Ready to Roam provides new students with an idea of what to expect in their first days on campus in the fall. This year, the event took place on July 30, with over a thousand students attending! New students familiarized themselves with the environment by joining tours, got a feel for classes with a Mini Lecture, learned academic success strategies, and broke down the differences between high school and university.

UM Essentials is a set of online modules that new Bisons can complete at their own pace, from home. The content features a wide array of topics, so students will discover strategies for taking on their first classes, university resources to help them succeed, wellness advice, tips on getting involved in student life, and the values and guidelines that keep the university a respectful and safe community. All incoming students are automatically enrolled in UM Essentials in August, so they can complete it at any time and refer back throughout the year. The online resource is also a great way for new students to familiarize themselves with the UM Learn interface, as the site also hosts all course homepages.

Prep Week is the best way to immerse yourself in the campus community! On August 26 and 27, all new students are invited to the Fort Garry campus where they can participate in university skills workshops, attend a special panel presentation, play games, and meet peers! The main component of Prep Week is a series of workshop sessions led by Student Affairs staff who specialize in supporting students by building their academic skillsets. Topics will include writing, academic integrity, study tips, and self-care. The panel discussion, titled “What I Wish I Knew,” features upper-years students providing the advice they would’ve liked to have when they started their journeys at UM. Additionally, there will be a Zoom webinar on August 28 about essential research and writing skills.

Welcome Day is the day before the start of classes, and it’s the grand finale of our orientation programming! To start, students are assigned homerooms for the day. Next, students will make their way to the Pep Rally to celebrate joining the herd! In the afternoon, students can enjoy the Carnival with new and old friends. Look forward to food, inflatable games, a photo book, a DJ, and more! If students still have questions before starting classes the next day, there will still be campus tours running through the afternoon, and they can stop by the Welcome Day Info Fair for more information on campus resources.

Are you starting your university journey with us this September? Ogechi Agba, Transition Events Coordinator, has a few words of advice:

“This is your first year at UM! Make the most of orientation by taking part in opportunities that have been created just for you. Meet new people with common interests and get an advantage by becoming familiar with the expectations and resources available to you.”

Participating in orientation programming is the best way to start off the new academic year on the right foot. That means knowing your way around, strengthening your academic skills, discovering resources to support your success and wellness through the year, and getting to know your peers. Check out the Fall Orientation website to discover more programming details and register for the events!

We are so excited for new Bisons to join the herd!

“UM Commons Live provided students with an opportunity to meet new people and along with other on-campus initiatives, brought a fresh energy back to the Fort Garry campus,” Brandy Usick, executive director, Student Engagement and Success says. “Over the next few months, we’ll be looking for ways to reconnect with students as we ease back into more on-campus activity.” 

Under tents in the Quad, students were able to find information on campus sustainability, get career advice and have tours of campus. Staff were excited to hand out information and interact with students in-person for the first time in months. Billy the Bison visited every day, bringing high fives and good cheer. There was a drum circle lead by spiritual care coordinator Edgar French and student support case worker Jesse Singer, and student services navigators from the Virtual Advising Help Centre were on hand to support students with general questions and referral to services. 

Through UM Essentials, an eight-module online course, students learned about the university’s expectations for their academic and personal behaviour as well as how to navigate coursework through UM Learn. UM Essentials is available to students throughout the next year, so if you have not yet completed these modules, you can log on and complete them now.  

Prep Week featured a full schedule of online workshops, lectures and social gatherings, with some sessions seeing upwards of 700 students in attendance. The most popular were skill-based workshops, including those on time management, group work strategies and academic writing. Recordings of the Prep Week sessions are available in the  UM Learn course. If you are not able to access the course, email umessentials@umanitoba.ca and ask to be added. 

Nearly 3000 students registered for Welcome Day, logging in for the virtual kick-off of the new academic year with messages from university administration, alumni and upper-level students wishing them well on their UM journey. Students spent the day in sessions familiarizing themselves with all aspects of university life. View the welcome ceremony and the sessions offered on September 7. 

If you missed UM Commons Live and have not yet received your Welcome Package, you can pick one up at the First Year Centre (205 Tier Building) or at UMSU in University Centre, while supplies last.  

STAY IN TOUCH 

For everything you need to know as a first year student, visit UM Commons, an online hub where you can get connected to your classmates, find a mentor and more. Plus, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @umfirstyearcentre and @umstudent.

While it was launched this summer, the online course contains useful information that students can refer to any time during this academic year. Much of the content may become more meaningful to students as they navigate studying, assignments and exams while trying to maintain a healthy and balanced life outside of class.

Whether you’ve already completed the course or if you haven’t started yet, here are a few highlights from UM Essentials that will be helpful at this time of the term:

• Academic Integrity in the Important Information module offers a reminder on the University of Manitoba’s tips and policies as students dive into papers, tests and midterms.
• The Becoming a Successful Student module has proven methods on staying organized and how to best use study time, as well as in-person and online options for help with assignments.  
• Your On-Campus Experience would also be a good module to visit for students looking to enrich their university experience. Research consistently indicates that students who are involved in campus recreation, volunteering and other activities perform better and are more likely to complete their degree. 

UM Essentials is available through UM Learn.  All new UM students have been automatically enrolled, and all other students can self-register at any time.

 What made you decide to shake things up?

Melissa: In the past, the U of M had a set of events and offerings that were intended to ‘orient’ students to the U of M, but they weren’t being presented cohesively.  Because of this, incoming students were taking part in certain events and not others, and not everyone was getting the same experience. We got feedback from students who had participated in our programming in the past, heard what worked and what didn’t, and made some changes.

Ali: We can’t expect these students who are coming fresh out of high school to just get with the program in a single day of Orientation right before they start classes.  We want them to take the summer, participate in our different programming, and think of Orientation as a process.

How is UM Orientation 2019 different from what’s been offered in the past?

Ali: We decided to change the focus of some of our previous events, and add some, so we can really meet the needs of the students.  This year, we are offering three main on-campus events, and a new and improved online component, called UM Essentials, plus smaller workshop-type offerings.

Melissa: The three on-campus events are: What’s Next? (June 1, 2019) which is taking the place of Head Start, and focusing more on what students told us they wanted at this phase of the process: course planning, registration, and exploring their faculty options. Then on July 17, we’re adding an event called Making the Grade! which will get students on campus mid-summer to get them comfortable, maybe get some of the administrative stuff out of the way, and show them all of the different options they’ve got for student support and getting involved. That way, when it comes to Welcome Day (September 3), they can focus more on socializing and making friends, rather than spending hours in line to get their Student ID Card.

Tell us more about UM Essentials.

Melissa: We wanted to find a way to include students who can’t necessarily take part in the on campus summer events, and also lighten the load of information we tend to throw at students in our typical fall Orientation day. UM Essentials is available to all incoming students on UM Learn starting in June, and it offers information on things like academic integrity, getting involved on campus, and also familiarizes students with some of our crucial policies on substance use and sexual violence. The idea is to give students a way to learn all of this important information in a digestible, understandable way.

 What should be the first step in getting the most out of the new UM Orientation?

Ali: Register for What’s Next? – it’s going to be a really great day on our Fort Garry campus. Students and their families are welcome to come check out their future campus home.  They’re going to learn a lot, and it’s a great opportunity to get more comfortable with this next stage in their life.

For more information, and to register for all upcoming UM Orientation 2019 events, click here.