To the core: Residence leaders immerse themselves in downtown Hamilton
McMaster students line up at one of Hamilton's many food trucks parked in downtown's Gore Park. More than 100 residence Community Advisors spent Monday learning about all that the city has to offer.
A trip downtown to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market is a staple of Brandon Smith’s Saturdays.
“I love going to the market every week,” says the manager responsible for student leadership and learning in McMaster’s residences. “Then I head down to explore Locke Street – and I always stop in at the Cheese Shoppe on Locke.”
Smith knows that for incoming residence students, venturing beyond the confines of campus to explore Hamilton’s neighbourhoods can be daunting.
He also knows it can be rewarding.
That’s why he will help lead more than 100 Community Advisors (upper-year students responsible for managing students who live in residence) into the city’s downtown core Monday.
The idea is to immerse the student leaders in a full day of Hamiltonia, giving them an experience they can use when planning events and activities for the approximately 3,500 students living in residence during the year.
“Each of our Advisors will be expected to plan student programming off campus in the Hamilton community,” says Smith. “We want to encourage real engagement with the local community.”
Monday’s trip will see the students quiz alumni and faculty about “bursting the Westdale bubble” at a panel session in City Hall’s council chambers, grab lunch from “Food Truck Alley” in Gore Park, explore the James Street North area and eat dinner at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.
“We want to support student success outside of the classroom,” says Smith. “And you really enhance your university experience by getting out into the community, beyond McMaster.”
The Hamilton Experience, as the training program is known, was piloted last year as a three-hour excursion. The student reaction was so enthusiastic that it was expanded to a full 11-hour day.
Health Sciences student and residence Community Advisor Mark Lee talks about one of his favourite Hamilton things: food.
