Orientation Week at Algoma University

Students are learning the ins and outs of campus life as international students catch a glimpse of an entirely new environment as Orientation Week gets underway at Algoma University. This is the first fall intake at Algoma since pandemic restrictions were lifted.

Members of Algoma’s Student Life Team welcomed a new group of fresh faces to the campus. The energy level is decidedly different this semester as COVID-19 put a damper on the event over the last couple of years.

“For our winter intake, it was almost all virtual,” Logan Kennedy, Algoma University’s student life event coordinator, said.

“And then in spring, we were excited to have students back, and we had about 40 students. And we thought, ‘this is amazing,’ to have 40. And today, we have well over a hundred. And so, it’s just an awesome energy and it’s great to see faces and put names to faces and let the students meet each other and get to know their new friends.”

Debbie Noorland, the university’s International Student Life Coordinator, says there is definitely a different vibe this year.

“You can feel it,” she said.

“The students are like, ‘thank goodness, I actually get to physically go out and be a part of this experience. And that’s what students over the last couple years have missed - that immersive post-secondary student experience.”

Along with some basic housekeeping–such as how to address the professors and where to find everything–Kennedy says students are also informed of the university’s past as a residential school.

“With our large portion of international students, I’d say it’s very, very eye-opening to them to know that this kind of thing happened here so recently,” Kennedy said.

“A lot of them feel very connected to it. More so than you’d think.”

And with the university’s tree-lined, park-like setting, Noorland says the students often form a stronger bond with nature during their time at Algoma.

“It’s a lot calmer; it’s more open and inviting, and it helps to encourage that relationship between the students and nature, and the city at large.”