“Lean into the challenges”

In his second year as a residence orientation representative (ROR), Randy Su learned firsthand how important it is to connect first-year students to a supportive, caring community as soon as they arrive on campus.

“I was pulled aside by a fellow ROR, who was in her first year when I started as an ROR,” he remembers.  “She began telling me about her experience as a first-year student during Welcome Week, and recalled how overwhelmed and nervous she felt transitioning into university, and she’d strongly considered leaving midway through the week.  She remembered me lifting her spirits by telling jokes and creating a comforting environment for her to network with other students. That inspired her to become an ROR in her second year and create similar experiences for other students.”

With COVID-19 keeping most students off campus and away from residence, this year is going to be different for everyone – but helping first-year students build strong, meaningful connections hasn’t changed.

Su, who is now in his fourth year in psychology, neuroscience and behaviour, is now a mentor with Archway, McMaster’s new program that connects every first-year student with both a staff coach in the Student Affairs office and an upper-year student mentor, and creates small online communities based on common interests. And unlike many programs for incoming students that may only last a matter of weeks, Archway runs for the entire school year – a must, now that the winter term will also be mostly online.

“I can’t imagine how difficult it will be for incoming first-year students to adjust socially and academically to the virtual semester,” he explains.

“I wanted to help create a safe and inclusive environment for students to network, explore and become more confident in tackling obstacles for the coming year. A support system with upper-years encourages students to ask questions and immerse themselves in the McMaster culture.”

Now, a few weeks into the fall term, the data suggest that Archway is working.

Since it started this summer, the program has connected more than 8,000 first-year students with mentors. More than 200 communities, which include a coach, a mentor and about 40 students are active on Microsoft Teams, and more than 4,000 one-to-one conversations between students and mentors have been logged so far.

For Sierra Vaillancourt, a first-year student in life sciences who’s living away from home in a Hamilton apartment, navigating the virtual semester has been challenging, but building connections through Archway has helped.

“It’s been really reassuring to see that everyone is doing their best to make the most of this very different first-year experience,” she explains.

“My upper-year leader, Celine, has been absolutely fantastic in supporting all of us and helping us feel excited rather than terrified. So far we’ve bonded over our shared love of reality TV and I can already tell that she’s one of the coolest people ever.”

The interest in Archway is starting to spread beyond McMaster’s virtual walls – a child and youth studies researcher at Brock University has just received $165,000 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to study the program.

Matthew Kwan, who was a faculty member at McMaster until this past July, will use the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey – which he helped develop – to measure Archway participants’ well-being, resiliency, depression, anxiety, sense of belonging, social isolation and academic support. He will also be conducting online interviews with Archway participants and non-participants to gather their thoughts and experiences.

“The COVID-19 situation was the impetus to get us thinking more about what we can do in a virtual environment, which is probable more in line with what students want these days anyway,” Kwan says.

“The program itself is not going to take away from the face-to-face type of support structures that have been or will continue to be in place, but this research will help us understand what can be complementary and effective.”

For Su, working with Archway is all about recreating the sense of support that he felt as a first-year student, as crowds of student reps welcomed into his room in Hedden Hall.

“I believe the incoming McMaster class of 2024 is courageous to tackle the changes in the virtual semester, and I’d encourage them to lean into the challenges,” he says. “The shift to a virtual world creates space for uncertainties that challenge them socially and academically, potentially leaving them isolated. The Archway program provides them with a reason to call McMaster their home.”