Ask me about my university... Part 1

Jock Phippen (Director of Enrolment Management) and I,
at the 2010 Ontario Universities Fair/Student Life Expo at the MTCC.
(photo credit: Ken Steele/academicagroup.ca)

UPDATE: Here's my UConversation profile and video.

This week, I made a video for UConversation.com. Started by two Bishop's University ladies, "Uconversation.com is the first online magazine for student and alumni to connect and provide personalized inspiration, advice and more for life after College!" 

The questions asked had me thinking about my university experience and what BU meant to me as a student and what it means to me now, as a young alumna. Most people that know me know that I was a Gaiter, but you might not know what exactly that translated into. 

Here's a video from winter 2010 that was submitted to the "Ask me about..." contest. The winners were chosen to attend incoming students' receptions in Vancouver, Halifax and Montreal. I attended the Montreal reception for the third year in a row, but not as a contest winner, but as vice-president academic-elect of the Students' Representative Council. 

There are a few things you need to know about Bishop's and the time in which I became a student. 

The first year I attended the incoming students' reception was as an incoming student in 2008. I travelled with the administrators, professors and student ambassadors to the golf course venue in St. Anne. The reception took place about two weeks after I had been named manager of Student Safety Services. 

Here's the rub, I was 19 years old and a-soon-to-be froshie. Previous managers were third, fourth or fifth year students. 2008 saw heavy turnover of staff due to graduation so the directors of campus security, Dan Major and Ross Aulis, took a chance on me. 

Here's the quick answer as to what Student Safety is: The student branch of the on-campus security department, for the 40 or so employees, our job descriptions included: crowd control at sport events, Gait (campus bar) security, first aid, walk-homes, peer intervention, ID checks at receptions, off-campus surveillance of student areas and more.  

2007-2008 was a major transition year for the university as well. The principal, Robert Poupart, left after a series of events, including a student protest in Centennial Theatre, in the fall. Before Poupart left, he fired two vice-principals. Money was tight and government grants were being withheld. Enrolment numbers were at an all-time low thanks to the double cohort leaving. Two residence halls were closed. Morale was sinking. A lockout had occurred over the summer by the professors. Things weren't good along the Massawippi shore. There was uncertainty as to the future of the university. Was this going to be the end?  

Of course not. 

The Bishop's community banded together. 2008 had the biggest incoming class since the double cohort. 2009 saw an increase in enrolment. 2010 had the biggest incoming class ever. 2011 brought close to 1,000 new students and residences are bursting at the seams. I arrived on the cusp of Bishop's revival and I left Lennoxville when it was prospering. The sense of growth and energy were key to my undergrad experience. 

Part 2, coming soon.