By Marzan Hamid, Contributor
McMaster University’s Welcome Week is loud and full of spirit — and rightfully so. It is the one week of the year where students are allowed to be shamelessly rowdy and proud of the school they go to. It is a time for first years to make McMaster and its community their home.
However, in order to truly make Mac a home for everyone, the week needs to be accessible to a wider range of personalities. It needs to welcome both those who love the noise, and those who don’t.
McMaster is a diverse university in many ways. As its students, we have many different mother tongues, we coexist in different faiths and we study different passions. Students at Mac come from all points of the personality spectrum, too. However, these differences don’t seem to be taken into consideration.
Welcome Week events are synonymous to heaven for extroverts. Loud crowds during faculty fusion? Hell yeah. Meeting 300 new people in a day and introducing the same three details over and over again? Nothing better. Raving to Bryce Vine in a mosh pit? Wouldn’t miss it for the world.
On the flip side, introverts find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. For people who want some downtime away from the large crowds where they cannot find much more than a few superficial connections, Welcome Week can be emotionally draining. While faculty and residence reps can be a huge resource for this exhaustion, it is undeniable that a disproportionate number of Welcome Week events cater to extroverted students, leaving their introverted counterparts feeling forced into situations they would much rather avoid.
The few low-key events that do exist are not as well promoted or organized. Things like painting or hikes can get crowded easily and limit the intimacy of connections that can be formed. Not to mention, introverted out-of-province and international students can easily feel isolated if they don’t already have friends on campus.
Small group activities are especially hard to come by in larger faculties where organization becomes difficult — however, we must remember who and what the week is for: for embracing new Marauders. Despite the challenges we may encounter when making students feel at home, it should be emphasized that there is truly something available for everyone to try. Whether that is through small group activities running alongside the bigger events (which are promoted just as much), or having designated areas on campus for downtime activities, we need to make strides to make this nervous time of year easier for everyone.
Many students are on their own for the first time in their life; this comes with its own set of problems and anxieties. Welcome Week shouldn’t have to be another. It should be a week as enjoyable for the social butterflies as it is for the wallflowers.
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By: Eden Wondmeneh
Faculty representatives and Maroons can shape incoming students’ initial impression of the McMaster University community. They guide us through Welcome Week and are meant to play the role of mentor and role model.
A few days into Welcome Week, new students grow accustomed to the vibrant suits and are well-aware of the colour distinctions of each faculty. Suddenly the suit, which at first glance may appear as a horrendous fashion statement, is at the top of many first-year students’ wish lists.
For some students who hope to mentor and inspire incoming students, becoming a faculty representative during Welcome Week is not feasible.
Even if they do make it through the competitive application process, they are unable to participate due to representative fees that candidates are not made aware of at any point during the application process.
On Jan. 22, a call was released on the DeGroote Commerce Society Facebook page for 2019 business faculty representatives. Applications were due by Feb. 1, with prospective green suits contacted for interviews.
The role requires faculty representatives to attend two training sessions prior to summer break and another session the week prior to Welcome Week. Green suits are also highly encouraged to participate in May at Mac and Shine-o-rama, both orientation events running during the summer break.
Despite the large time commitment and the cost of the $60 green suit itself, students who made it through the application process and ultimately became a green suit, were immensely excited about the experience to come.
This excitement, however, was soured with the introduction of a representative fee of over a hundred dollars that was not advertised at any point during the application process.
The representative fee is a confusing, hidden fee that prospective and new faculty representatives are appalled by. The fee is estimated to be around $120.00, but with the McMaster Students Union funding cuts, new representatives expect this to be a low-ball estimate and have yet to be informed of the final cost.
This cost is said to cover training, food and participation in Welcome Week. This contribution to Welcome Week especially annoys students who never signed up to subsidize part of Welcome Week that as first-year students we already paid a mandatory $120.98 First-Year Orientation levy for.
For business students fees to join clubs specific to their faculty is not uncommon. Most clubs require students to pay a small fee for registration.
However, in the case of the representative fee that impacts all faculty reps, the fee is substantial, and no one made them aware of the fee prior to joining. With a lack of discussion of financial support, some students are genuinely happy they didn’t make the cut.
It is simply unfair for students who underwent the incredibly extensive process to become a faculty representative to be cut from the position because of an inability to pay for the high fees.
The faculty representative fee ensures that those who are willing and chosen to volunteer their time to enrich and support incoming students secure their spot by coughing up money.
If this is the inequitable model the green suits and other faculty society representatives decide to rely on, then they should at least be transparent to their applicants.
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By: Rida Pasha
I am a first-year student who wasn’t aware of the Student Representative Assembly until just a few months ago. I am not alone in this experience.
Many first-year students only became aware of the presence of the SRA after the recent election campaign, with posters plastered around campus.
It is not news that it is difficult to find clear information about what the SRA does as the supposed voice of McMaster University students. There are plenty of upper years that are still oblivious to the SRA’s workings, so imagine being a first-year and all of sudden receiving dozens of Facebook notifications to like election pages and vote for certain candidates.
If you go to the McMaster Students Union website and search the SRA, you’re met with a very vague explanation of what this assembly does, and to someone who knows little to nothing about how their meetings work, it can be very confusing.
As first-year students make up a large percentage of the McMaster population, it is essential that the SRA increases its engagement with these students, especially considering that many are simply unaware of the function of student governance at McMaster.
This engagement should begin at the beginning of the school year at many students’ most memorable time of university, Welcome Week.
Welcome Week is dedicated to making first-year students feel comfortable and aware of the different clubs, services, resources and events available on campus.
The SRA should be heavily involved in Welcome Week so that first-year students at least have the opportunity to learn the basics of student governance and politics.
Not only would this be a great way for students to understand that the SRA works to improve the experience of all students, but it is also an excellent way for SRA members to build connections and truly represent the student body.
However, it can’t just stop there. While there needs to be more interaction between SRA members and all students, first-year students should be specifically targeted because they are a demographic that is often not given enough attention.
While upper-year students are at least able to have fellow SRA members in their years support and speak on their behalf, most first-year students are left out of the picture since apart from the few first-year representatives, rarely any first-year students attend assembly meetings.
Though all students have the opportunity to speak at a meeting in order to bring up an issue, what is the likelihood that the average first-year student is confident enough to speak up at a meeting with 35 upper-year students ready to debate, let alone know that the SRA is a service that they can turn to?
It is important that first-year students recognize that the decisions the SRA makes impact us the most. These are decisions that may directly affect us not just for this year, but for years to come.
Many SRA members will be graduating in one to two years so the decisions made won’t be affecting them later on. But as first-year students will likely be here for another three or four years, we need to be made aware of the issues, topics and decisions that are being made.
It is time that the SRA finds better ways to reach the students they are representing. While the SRA mailing list is a start in updating students, more has to be done.
This engagement has to go beyond emails and become a more interactive experience with first-year students that remains consistent throughout the year.
So for the newest elected members of the 2019-2020 SRA term, what will you do to build a connection with first-year students?
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Welcome Week may have ended two weeks ago, but if we’re all being honest, the busiest week on campus is still frequenting our minds and our Instagram feeds. McMaster’s first year orientation week sets the tone for the rest of the school year by welcoming new students to campus and Hamilton and welcoming back faculty and student representatives. The week is a fun-filled extravaganza, but its enduring physical and mental participation means that not all students leave with a positive attitude. Here are eleven different feelings you’re experiencing now that the week is dead and gone.
Exhaustion. With the high amounts of spirit and consistent cheering Welcome Week brings, reps and first years alike are probably still recovering from the exhausting eight days. The beating sun, the long hours and lack of food and water intake all contribute to needing to hibernate for three whole weeks (until we come out for Homecoming, obviously). Take your time to sleep as much as you can, refuel on all your nutrients and spend some time practicing self-care.
Relief. Welcome Week is a cherished time — one that first years and reps can look back on with fond memories. But that doesn’t mean that we’re not relieved it’s over. While most students start off the week in full spirits, we are relieved by the start of actual school that we no longer have to be up at 8:30am for a day of mostly extraverted activities.
Sadness. As Nelly Furtado best puts it, “Why do all good things come to an end?” While there are so many mixed feelings towards Welcome Week as a whole, one feeling many reps share is sadness. The week can act as a supercharged bonding activity for so many students. So much so that at week's end, reps are miserable that they don’t get to spend any more condensed time with their team. And for those who are graduating, the end of the week can be even more somber as fourth and fifth year reps know that they have suited up for the last time.
Excitement. The years or year to come can be a beacon of excitement while finishing off Welcome Week. The orientation activities might not have been for you, the classes you choose might be really interesting or you’re just really ready to graduate. Symbolizing a fresh start to a new school year, the Welcome Week finale can be full of anticipation.
Regret. While Welcome Week is full of great memories, there’s always something we wish we could have done or improved. Maybe you forgot a move during Airbands or didn’t get to ask your Welcome Week crush for their phone number (it’s impossible to recognize people without their rep suits). Or you didn’t get to visit the Engineer’s petting zoo or get someone to take a fire Instagram photo of you. Welcome Week regrets can hit you harder than normal as the only way to redeem yourself is to wait until next year (if you’re repping WW 2018 that is). Try to let the good memories replace the regrets. By the end of April, you probably won’t remember them at all.
Anger. If you were involved in Welcome Week in any capacity (organizing, repping or being a first year), you probably got angry or frustrated at some point during the week, and those feelings might be lingering into first term. This year's Welcome Week definitely had some areas of improvement that left many people angry with the process — some examples being the food options on campus available during move-in, Justin Trudeau’s visit taking reps away from their duties or rep training being slightly boring and redundant. Take your anger and channel that into filling out the Welcome Week survey, which should be hitting your Mac email inbox within the month.
Sickness. No, this isn’t a feeling, but students sure are feeling the big Welcome Week sick. Due to the exhaustion and over exposure to germs, there’s many people who are slowly descending into gross coughs and sneezes. Go to the doctor, take some medicine and save your roommates and classmates from your cold.
By: Eamon Hillis
The first year of many students’ post-secondary experience is often defined by enthusiasm and promise.
It is a time rich with opportunity, and one that often bestows upon the student substantial changes in their academic and social environments. It brings with it new expectations, and in those expectations, new challenges. It can prove to be a difficult transition at times, as student leave behind familiar things and wade into the unknown. There is often struggle, but many still thrive.
There is perhaps no better illustration of the transition from high school to university than what is seen in the experiences of the varsity rookie.
It can be a rewarding time, and a challenging one, but often one in which senior athletes look back fondly upon.
For nearly all first-year varsity athletes, regardless of sport, the university circuit marks a significant step up in competition. The other athletes are older, stronger and much more experienced than they are. Depending on the sport, rookies often take a season or two to grow acclimatized to the level of play and to improve to the point where they begin to see success. Despite this, some still prosper early.
For McMaster baseball rookie Lucas DaSilva, this was certainly the case. DaSilva won this year’s Ontario University Athletics rookie of the year award for his outstanding season. He achieved a .406 batting average through 18 games, and excelled at shortstop, a notoriously demanding position. Like other talented rookie athletes, DaSilva recalls being the target of special treatment from opposing players looking to test him.
“I did not know what it would be like going in to the season,” DaSilva said. “But the competition was a lot better [than in high school]. Players are smarter and know the game better. The difference in pitching was noticeable, and the other players were overall much stronger. I saw a lot of fast balls just because I was a rookie and I batted second in the order, so they weren’t going to throw the first pitch off-speed. As the season went on though, I began to see many different pitches.”
Trials such as these can be vexing for rookies, especially those given important roles on their team. There is an inherent anxiety that accompanies any first-year athlete, but for those who find themselves in key positions early, there is an added level of pressure.
William Kelly, fly-half for the McMaster men’s rugby squad, knows this pressure well. Like DaSilva, Kelly also won 2016 OUA rookie of the year honors for his performance this season. With regards to the pressure he felt starting as fly-half, Kelly acknowledges the important role that some of the senior players had in helping him feel relaxed on the field.
“In the game of rugby, fly-half tends to be a leadership role, much like quarterback,” Kelly said. “I was pretty nervous the first game of the season against Western. The first few minutes were a bit hectic. I believe the first play we ran we had a knock on and I threw a forward pass. It was guys like fifth-year centre Jamie Leveridge who really eased me into it. They said ‘we know you are good, just have confidence in your skills and play by feel’. As the season went on, I got more and more comfortable with my role on the team.”
Beyond the tribulations that rookies may face on the field, many also come to know burdens within the classroom. The academic strain on the student-athlete is much greater than in high school, and this is recognized well by McMaster administration. Coaching staff and academic advisors understand the time commitment of varsity sports, and it is often recommended for athletes to spread out their academic career to five years, so not to be overwhelmed.
Heavily-recruited rookie wrestler Ben Zarah, a life science major, understands the importance of balancing training and his academics.
“We have a lot of guys on the team who are in demanding faculties and care a lot about academics,” Zarah says. “Many of them have tough course loads like myself and have learned how to manage it. I’m currently taking a reduced load, and I’m planning on extending my time at Mac to five years.”
Zarah is currently mid-season, and is showing great promise so far. He acknowledges the quality training that he is getting from his teammates in practice, and finds that he has improved greatly from his time as a Marauder.
Rookie athletes, like all first-year students at McMaster, understand the many toils and delights that attend ones transition from high-school. It can be a rewarding time, and a challenging one, but often one in which senior athletes look back fondly upon.
“Don’t be too nervous,” DaSilva advises future rookies. “Focus on your game, don’t change anything. Just stay positive and focused, and don’t let the big guys overlook you.”
Ahbi Mukherjee
The Silhouette
A new pilot program, Spark, will be a student-led, student-run service of the MSU devoted to setting the stage for student success at the University. The service was proposed by the MSU’s vice-president (education) Spencer Graham and will specifically cater to incoming first-year students at no extra cost.
Spark will begin at the start of the coming fall term and will be designed to provide students with small group environments that facilitate first-year growth and build personal development and reflection skills for undergraduate career. It will introduce students to campus services, clubs and leadership opportunities and encourage extracurricular participation. It will also connect students to their peers and upper-year students to promote increased support on academic issues and associated first-year challenges.
The program will be comprised of weekly sessions that will consist of small groups of participating first-year students and be led by two undergraduate Success Facilitators. Each session will be between 1-2 hours long and will take place throughout the entirety of each term. The topics for each week’s sessions will be planned by the Spark coordinator in conjunction with the vice-president (administration) as necessary. A session may involve leadership activities, presentations from speakers, discussions, journaling/reflection periods, games and other activities. A participating first-year student will have completed the program upon the completion of three self-directed activities within the University or broader community of Hamilton. There will be several optional, open study groups at various points throughout the week to promote building inclusive student learning communities.
Online applications will be made available for students and will ask students specific questions, which will help arrange them into groups. These groups will be created with the intention of dividing students according to diversity of goals, personality types, level of comfort and level of prior engagement.
“The idea for Spark came to me when I was running for VP (education) a year ago. I came up with the ideas through some of my old personal experiences and some things that I noticed in the school community in general,” said Graham. “Students nowadays are very much expected to go to university; its an expectation placed on them by their parents, peers and society and throughout their years at university, they have very little time to sit down and think why they are here in the first-place. That is what Spark will be all about, to open up the box.”
“The idea is that first-years come into the university and they will be put under the guidance and leadership of upper year students to be successful," Graham said. "So the program is meant to crack open the box on why you are here and what you can get out of university and what first steps I should be taking as a first-year to get to where I want to be.”
Participant spots are first come first serve for the Spark program. It will be open to students from every faculty. As the first installation of the program is a pilot project, the total number of students to be accepted will be approximately 100 per term, however this number depends on the available resources that will be deduced by the Spark coordinator.
Welcome Week has the potential to make or break a first year’s experience at McMaster. But it’s difficult to say what this year’s batch of first year students thought about their Welcome Week.
The Student Success Centre (SSC) had originally scheduled Welcome Week focus groups for Nov. 21 and Nov. 22 in which first-year students are invited to voice their opinions on their Welcome Week. In the past, the SSC has attracted approximately 15 students per focus group. This year, no students signed up.
According to Rachel Nelson, SSC Events Coordinator, the Centre is currently looking into why this occurred. Students were notified of the sessions via a mass email notification sent to their McMaster emails.
The MSU already conducted Welcome Week focus groups in early October. These groups mostly consisted of SRA members who had held a variety of positions in Welcome Week. The groups looked at the purpose of Welcome Week, scheduling, levy fees, and Welcome Week representatives.
While the MSU coordinates some of the larger events such as the PJ Parade and Faculty Day/Night, the SSC is responsible for organizing move-in, distributing MacPasses and co-ordinating MACademics sessions.
MACademics are the school-oriented sessions run during Welcome Week in order to prepare first year students for the realities they will face in university. This year some sessions attracted up to 100 participants. For the first time, SSC also offered sessions tailored specifically for arts-based students and science-based students.
However, questions have been raised as to whether Welcome Week should have such a heavy academic focus. MSU Executives David Campbell and Huzaifa Saeed have put together a proposal to recommend an “Academic-focused Welcome Week” occurring the week after Welcome Week.
David Campbell, VP Administration noted that it is worth expanding MACademics due to its clear value to students. But he stated that, “Welcome Week should focus on social networking and getting your roots settled … which research shows is essential to academic success and retention.”
The MSU proposal would also aim to involve faculty societies and get more faculty-focused academic support for first year students. However, Campbell noted that this requires a significant amount of planning and resources.
With possible changes looming, it remains unclear what exactly first years think about their Welcome Week experiences. The SSC distributed a First Year Transition Survey earlier in November to ask new students about their overall experience so far. 1,000 students responded to this survey. With plans for Welcome Week hanging in the balance, the time for first year students to speak up is running out.
