Students are ready and excited to be back to school at Lakehead University’s Orillia campus.
The Lakehead University Student Union (LUSU) hosted a festival Friday afternoon to get students engaged in campus life. Students will be treated to a movie under the stars in the evening.
Brandon Amyot, vice-president of LUSU in Orillia, is one of the organizers of Friday’s event.
“The idea is to welcome students to all that the union is,” they explained. “Whether it’s our activism and advocacy, fun things like inflatables, cotton candy, and tie-dye, all the way to our events and campaigns, this is a reflection of all the things we do throughout the year.”
Amyot was excited to see so many students out at this year’s festival.
“It’s really wonderful to see students return in a way outdoors that is safe, comfortable and inviting,” they said.
The last couple of school years were difficult for students, with the COVID-19 pandemic playing spoiler on campus life.
“It’s definitely been difficult for the student union,” Amyot said. “We’ve had to deal with the health and safety of students with the pandemic, rising costs of post-secondary education, and challenges with the provincial government with the student choice initiative.”
Katie Clarke is studying in the education field this fall. This is her first year on campus.
“The whole environment is happy and warm,” she said. “It feels like a big family already.”
She says the energy on campus is exciting.
“Everyone is happy to be here and to be back,” she said. “I’ve already seen so many people making connections and friends that they couldn’t during the previous few years with COVID.”
Isabelle Popai is in her fourth year at Lakehead, studying criminology. She is looking forward to being able to interact with classmates in person this year.
“Especially if you are going to grad school, you want to be able to make some connections before you leave,” she said.
Popai serves the campus as a house president and is in charge of residence lifestyle.
“I want to throw more and better events,” she said. “We want to get everyone feeling back to normal and feeling happy to be here.”
Aroma Pannu is the student success specialist at the school who helps students get connected with the services they need.
“It’s pretty exciting when you’ve got university students up on a bouncy castle,” she said. “There are families roaming around here today doing tie-dye. The excitement is pretty high.”
Pannu says students will be connected to the local community over the coming weeks through a long list of events.
“It’s all about welcoming and being inclusive,” she said. “We’ve already seen students, including other students, sitting together and chatting. They are building that home-away-from-home feeling.”
Chris Glover, associate vice-president, administration, at Lakehead Orillia, says students should expect “as close to a normal year” as possible following virtual formats during the pandemic.
“We’ve always had an online complement of classes,” he said. “We do have a mix of, still, online courses and in-person classes.”
Glover says he can feel the excitement on campus this week with students set to return to the classroom next week.
This year, Lakehead University’s residence is completely full.
“Every room is taken,” he said. “That’s new to us. Even pre-pandemic, we weren’t at that level of engagement.”
