Despite the best efforts of everyone involved, 17,000 students returning to campus is bound to mean facing at least a couple lineups when completing your return-to-school errands.
Dalhousie Ancillary Services is helping reduce some of that lineup stress: this Wednesday, four of its operations—the Bookstore, Dal Food Services, PCPC and the DalCard office—are staying open late until 8 p.m. to help off-campus Dal students get a leg up on the new academic year.
“We know that the lineups during the first two weeks of the new academic year are at their longest,” says Bookstore Manager Tina Shannon. “Community Night is a chance to help those students living in the city and who can’t take part in our Books in Rez program to come in a little earlier and beat the rush.”
The Books in Rez program allows residence students to buy books and items for their room through the Bookstore’s website, and have them delivered to their residence on check-in day.
“The Books in Rez program is a great time-saving service for residence students, but there really wasn’t a comparable service available for students living off campus,” says Ms. Shannon. “This is one of the main reasons we decided to partner with other business services and offer a special event for the off-campus student community.”
Getting a jump, taking advantage of key services
The Food Services office, located behind Howe Hall, will also be open late to anyone wishing to purchase a meal plan. Jeff Kelly, manager of marketing for Food Services, hopes the event will help raise awareness that meal plans are not just for residence students.
“We often hear from off-campus students and even Dal employees that they didn’t know that they, too, can eat at any one of the university’s four residence dining halls. Community Night gives us a chance to tell off-campus students that meal plans are available for them as well,” adding that they’re a great way for students to grab a snack between classes, or recharge with a full meal.
Both the DalCard office and PCPC will also be open late. So if you need to acquire your university ID, get an updated UPass sticker, or drop into Dal’s computer store for special student rates, you can do so late on Wednesday.
Stephen Bourke, manager of PCPC, takes pride in being able to suggest computer solutions that meet the unique needs of the program a student is enrolled in. “We’ve been at this long enough to know what kinds of system and software requirements are needed for various academic programs. And it’s that kind of service that really sets us apart.”
Community Night also features a Passport promotion: pick up a postcard at any of the four services and have it stamped at each location for a chance to win $100 on your DalCard. With only a limited number of passports, the chances of winning the prize are good!
For more details on Dalhousie Community Night, please visit these Facebook pages, or call one of the participating stores at the number below:
• Bookstore: Facebook page, 494-2460
• DalCard: Facebook page, 494-2334
• Dal Food Services: Facebook page, 494-2078
• PCPC: 494-2626