Lucia Chen and Sariha Dewan are the 2024 Orientation Coordinators for St. Michael’s College. Lucia is in her fourth year, studying criminology, political science, and bioethics. She loves to read, paint, and bake. Her favourite part about Orientation is all the SMC spirit. Sariha Dewan is also a fourth-year student, studying human biology, physiology, and Book & Media Studies. In her free time, she can be found doing one of the following: watching and playing sports or reading sad biographies. Her favourite Orientation events are Kellys Korner and Bed Races. Orientation Week begins August 26.
Why St. Mikes?
For the two of us, both commuters, our selection of St. Michael’s College on the U of T application portal was merely a judge of aesthetics. Now, three years later, we look back in praise of our younger selves for making such an important decision in our lives, in what many would call an irrational manner. But there was nothing irrational about our decision to become involved in the same college that was once reduced to a mere architectural wonder for us.
As a challenge to ourselves to meet new people in this new chapter of our lives, paired with having the support of someone you have known more than seven years, we entered our own Orientation year together full of excitement, despite the online delivery style. We received the excitement we entered with back ten-fold from the enthusiastic staff, jovial cheers, and resourceful yet equally amusing programming.
Having experienced the magic of St. Mike’s Orientation in many different possible delivery styles– online, hybrid, and in-person– and having worn all the different hats: orientee, leader, mentor, and marshal, we decided this year that it was time to add a new colour to our rainbow of Orientation shirts and bring our experience and insight to the team.
Our goals while planning for the 2024 Orientation, which conveniently spell out goals, are Growth, Opportunity, Accessibility, Longevity, and Sense of community. We not only want the O-Week schedule to reflect this, but our staff team as well. As Orientation is a great opportunity for upper year students to give back to the community, and for some, their first leadership position, we hope that their time as Leaders, Mentors, and Marshals result in their own interpersonal growth, and for them to instill the same sense of community they were met with when they were a first-year student.
Our schedule reflects all these goals, with a new emphasis on Accessibility and Longevity. Accessibility has been at the forefront of our planning this year, as one of our priorities when scheduling events was giving back the orientees the autonomy of choice. By offering a mixture of academic and social, high energy and low energy, indoor and outdoor events at the same time, we recognize that each first-year student wants something different out of Orientation. We’ve made sure to include events catered towards our diverse student populations, including international students, transfer students, and non-traditional students.
Accessibility has been a key consideration in all our planning, ensuring that all students feel welcomed and supported. Longevity was the golden word this year, often heard echoing throughout the duration of our meetings. Every year, without fail, we have found ourselves hearing from orientees we reunite with a couple of months into the school year, that O-Week is the sole week of fun at U of T, only to be followed with four-plus straight years of academics. We wanted to eliminate this mindset by allowing Orientation to showcase events and faces that hopefully become familiar faces throughout the year.
By involving prominent clubs and student groups such as the St. Michael’s College Union (SMCSU), SMC Mentorship, Athletics, the Kelly Library in events throughout the week, we hope to instill first-year students with the notion that similar events will be offered throughout the year by the same clubs and student groups.
As we move closer to the big week, excitement is building. We’re looking forward to welcoming our new students and seeing our plans come to life. The journey so far has been a testament to the power of teamwork, communication, and a shared commitment to student success. We’re confident that our efforts will result in an orientation experience that is both memorable and meaningful for all involved.
Planning for O-Week has been a journey of growth, collaboration, and anticipation. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished so far and excited for what’s to come. We could not be more excited to bleed blue with everyone soon!!
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