by Sarah Kelly and Bana Qabbani

More than 1,500 new students gave up a few precious days of their vacation to explore services and meet other students just before classes started. They were taking part in Discover Concordia, a series of orientation sessions organized through the New Students Program.

Jessica Rincon, 18, is from Venezuela and will be studying English literature. “Discover Concordia was really helpful, although I still have to go through all the brochures. I would have been lost if I’d gone to the first day of school and didn’t know all that I’ve learned from Orientation.”

Discover Concordia took place over three days. Along with the information sessions, students were treated to a humorous skit from members of the Student Success Centre. “It woke me up! I definitely enjoyed it,” said marketing major Leigh Ann Pawliuk.

There were prizes — gift certificates to Java U, Concordia sweatshirts from the bookstore, and passes to Stingers games — plus lunch, cake and other snacks.
Discover Concordia is a university-wide orientation program, with senior students acting as animators. Getting to Know U Days, a concurrent program, brought small, informal groups of students together to explore the university.

Donna Pinsky is a senior business student who has been welcoming new students to Concordia for over two years. “I was really impressed with Discover Concordia when I was a new student, so I decided to get involved.” She likes meeting the new students and helping them getting adjusted to university life.

Pinsky feels all students would benefit from joining a PLUS Mentor group and taking a CLUES library workshop. “I wish that PLUS Mentor groups had been around when I started at Concordia. I really could’ve used having an experienced student at Concordia to answer my questions.”

Start Right, another orientation event, is a series of eight learning modules designed to teach students the skills they need to succeed at university. Counselling and Development’s Learning Support Services developed this series of workshops, which include listening and notetaking, academic writing, studying and taking exams.

“I took a lot of notes at Start Right and learned many strategies that I think will help me this fall,” said anthropology student Tom Jordan, 42.

Students interested in joining a PLUS Mentor group or taking any of the Counselling and Development workshops, especially the First Year Experience Modules, can find out more information from the Student Success Centre in H-481.

Sarah Kelly and Bana Qabbani are Journalism students, and were first-time animators with Discover Concordia this year.