“No student quite knew what to expect as they arrived to check into the Destination UBC weekend in the foyer of Walter Gage. Sitting at the registration desk, handing out keys to these excited/scared students I had an idea what they were in for – one of the best weekends of their lives. The reason I knew this you might ask? Because I had already gone through the same experience two weeks prior at UBC’s Okanagan Campus, and the feedback then was fantastically positive.” (Erik Kundu, Student Coordinator)
The Vancouver Destination UBC event was packed, with 450 students flown, ferried and bussed from almost every Canadian province, as well as from outside Canada, for the full weekend of May 23-25. On Saturday, nearly 1500 local students and over 750 parents joined the throng for an opening presentation in the Chan Centre, faculty sessions and a variety of breakout sessions and campus tours. As you can imagine, it took a veritable army of UBC faculty, staff (thanks, ES!) and students to run this event.
The energy was palpable from the outset and lasted all weekend: “the cheering bus-load of students from Kelowna as well as the eager faces from all over Canada created a very enthusiastic and happy atmosphere” (Al Shaibani, Student Coordinator)
A few UBC reps share their experiences:
A face to the name
Scott Price, ESP, felt his role as an advisor come alive: “I had a chance after my Faculty presentation to catch up with a mother and daughter that I had been advising previously. It was a nice chance to put a face to a friendly voice that I had been helping for a few weeks. That interaction inspired me to see if I could take some of the students from that faculty presentation into my cohort as I already had connected with them on some level. Yay holistic advising!“
New friendships are formed
Even late-night rounds have their rewards: “I set out on rounds to ensure everybody was safe and tucked in bed. There was a lounge full of students in their pajamas, snuggled on the couches while chatting and watching a quiet movie. It was obvious that they had already made connections and they simply wanted to spend their last hours at UBC hanging out getting to know each other. I never thought that two days would be enough to make close friendships, but I have no doubt that it happened at Destination UBC.” (Steph Kendall, Student Coordinator)
Decisions are made
Marissa Klees, Student Coordinator, met “a student who was attending Destination UBC mainly to satisfy her parents – they were both UBC alumni and wanted their daughter to attend, but she was set on going to school out east. At the end of the weekend she told me she had made some awesome new friends and fallen in love with the campus, and was getting more and more excited about the prospect of attending UBC. She left Destination UBC with a smile, a wave and the words ‘I’ll see you in the fall!’”
A huge thank-you to everyone who made this event a success! Check out what students are saying at http://www.tintup.com/ubcv.
