Movin' on in: Welcoming Dal's newest students

As the leaves change in September, so do the faces on campus. After a long summer of anticipation, hundreds of students from Dal’s Class of 2019 arrived Sunday morning to move into their new homes and kick-off this year’s Orientation Week.

On the Halifax campuses, Dal’s residences were bustling with excitement: students carrying suitcases and storage containers; RAs and O-Week leaders answering questions; and parents and friends double-checking the new students had everything they needed for the start of the school year. To make the move-in easier, many students opted to utilize the Books in Rez program which allowed them to pre-order required textbooks or dorm goods that would be delivered to their residence ahead of time and then picked up upon arrival.

Raising spirits

Throughout the morning, O-Week leaders danced and played music around campus to keep the scene playful and offset the small stresses of moving day. Once settled into their new rooms, students scooped up their O-Week Kits, bid farewell to their parents, and set off to mingle with the students who will be their peers for the next four years.

For first-year student Miranda McConnell, Dal’s academic programs were the main factor in her decision to come to the university. “Dal has a really good medical school and I plan to become a doctor, so it seemed like a good choice.”

Miranda will get her first taste of classes when they start on Thursday, but for now most of the first-year students were focused on Orientation Week activities. Hundreds of students hustled into the Studley Quad for the first of many O-Week festivities: the Field Party.

Amidst the sea of bright hats, neon t-shirts, face paint and colourfully rimmed sunglasses, students enjoyed inflatable bouncy castles, snow cones, a BBQ lunch, and practicing their house cheers for Monday’s cheer-off. Students could be overheard voicing their excitement for other O-Week activities, including the opening ceremonies, the Rock the Boat concert and the HFXplore citywide scavenger hunt.

“I’m probably most excited to meet new people and try new things,” says Laura Brenton, first-year student originally from Truro. Brenton said the big variety of people that come to Dal and live in Halifax played a role in her decision-making process when choosing a university.

From far and away

Indeed, the chalkboard in the Studley Quad affirmed her statement. Beneath the question ‘Where are you from?’ students had scrawled Qatar, New Glasgow, Toronto, Vancouver and Bermuda, to name a few.

Another individual who travelled a sizable distance to be at Dal is new Management student, Andy Balak. For the Regina native, his decision to come to Halifax was influenced by the east coast experience. “It costs the same amount to live and go to school here as it does where I’m from,” Balak says. “If I’m going to be spending the money anyways, it might as well be somewhere new and exciting.”

That excitement stretched beyond Halifax to Truro, as the newest class of “Aggies” arrived at Dal’s Agricultural Campus. The doors to residences like Chapman and Fraser opened at 9 a.m. and the day continued with the Dal AC Services Fair, a farewell supper for family and friends, and the traditional evening-ending bonfire.

Although this year’s incoming class of students boasts diversity in where they’re from and what they’re interested in, they all have one thing in common: for the next four years, they’re part of a community that bleeds black and gold.