One hundred and twenty-six incoming first-year students will be staying in Woodstock Hall this weekend to experience a little taste of university life.

Horizons: Future Student Leaders Conference is about to begin. The conference aims to help students with their transition from high school to university and explore the extra-curricular opportunities at McMaster, with the goal of helping build and define McMaster's future student leaders.

In small groups, students will look to each other to help answer questions surrounding the concepts of leadership and what it takes to be a leader. Each session is lead by two current student leaders from around campus. In total, more than 50 current student leaders are involved with the development and operation of the conference, and that involvement can only inspires students.

Irfaan Remtulla is a perfect example. As a Horizons delegate two years ago, he is now the co-ordinator for the 2004 conference. “This conference helps first-year students strive to achieve academic excellence, while helping them understand their role in the university outside of class,” Remtulla said, “(Horizons) also fosters a feeling of welcome, instils a sense of pride and belonging at McMaster before students have even attend their first class.”

Over the course of the weekend, delegates will get first-hand introductions to the opportunities for leadership at McMaster, which include the McMaster Students Union (MSU), the Inter-Residence Council (IRC), clubs, student societies, and many other university departments. Delegates will also have the chance to learn about the Mary E. Keyes Certificate of Leadership offered by the Centre for Student Development, a program that aims to “cultivate leaders for life.”

“Horizons seeks to help develop a sense of leadership within students at McMaster as students are coming from many different types of high schools with many different types of leadership opportunities,” MSU President Shano Mohan noted, “McMaster University is the only university in Canada to offer a conference aimed directly at incoming students and leadership. With the success of the first conference, and the great conference ahead of us this year, it is no surprise that several other Ontario universities are now looking to implement a similar conference in coming years.” Unfortunately, the 2003 conference was cancelled due to the power failure that hit last August.

Invites were sent to all incoming students in the province with information about the conference in early July, but some students are taking an active interest in checking out McMaster Web sites  the furthest Horizons delegate comes from Burnaby, British Columbia. Registration has been full since the end of July.

Horizons: Future Student Leaders Conference was created in 2002 by the McMaster Students Union, which supports over 16,000 full-time undergraduate students.