This summer's Experience UVic/Destination UVic weekend received high marks from prospective UVic students and parents, giving the green light for an even better "test drive" of campus for May 24, 2008.
"The programming, both the social and the task-focused, was highly appropriate and everything was extremely well-organized," says Carol Hemrich, now a UVic parent who made the trek to Vancouver Island with her daughter for Destination UVic during the May long weekend this year.
Experience UVic served roughly 1,000 participants interested in "test-driving" the campus before classes started in September. The free programming incorporated all of the essential information for first-year students, including instructions and advice for choosing classes, financial aid information, faculty-specific campus tours, study skills, access to recreation facilities, bookstore shopping, exploration of academic prospects, overseas opportunities and candid chats with professors and students. Participants also had the option of booking a room in residence at a special price.
Grade-12 students planning to live in residence in September 2007 had the option of paying for Destination UVic, which was organized by the Residence Life Office. This program offered the benefits of the Experience UVic program coupled with two nights' accommodation on campus, meals and sight-seeing tours around the city. Students who participated in this weekend-long event* also had the opportunity to choose their room in residence for the 2007-08 term, a perk that Hemrich's daughter took full advantage of.
"We both had endless small and large matters addressed and answered," says Hemrich.
Experience UVic is organized by the Office of the Registrar and Enrolment Services and presented in cooperation with a number of campus services, including the UVic Bookstore, Alumni Services, Career Services, Co-operative Education, Counselling Services, International and Exchange Student Services and the McPherson Library among others.
"I felt very reassured that I was dealing with people who are both highly knowledgeable and very experienced in dealing with students new to university life and their somewhat anxious parents," says Hemrich. "In the fall, [my daughter] didn't feel like she was 'going' to UVic, she felt like she was 'returning' to UVic."
Registration for the May 2008 Experience UVic begins in mid-February with links from the UVic home page.
Originally published in Volume 1, Issue 1 of the Fountain, November 2007