Staying close to home
Local students take CBU 01
When it came time to choose where he wanted to go to university, Trevor Boudreau considered a few different schools.
But after weighing his options, the 17-year-old Grade 12 student at Sydney Academy soon decided on Cape Breton University.
“It’s close to home — that’s a big deal to me — and it’s one of the schools around here that offers nursing, which I’m interested in,” said Boudreau, who was one of several hundred local high students attending the CBU 101 information session at the university’s Verschuren Centre on Tuesday night.
The event gave students and their parents a chance to hear from school officials, chat with professors, tour the campus and get information on financial aid and scholarships.
Boudreau’s mother, Raylene Stephens, said she was happy with her son’s pick.
“He’ll go to a school close to home — and live at home — which is fantastic,” she said, adding that his stepfather, Bernie
MacIntosh, is a registered nurse who went to CBU.
MacIntosh, who graduated from CBU in 2005, said he thinks Boudreau will enjoy his time at CBU, calling it a “great university.”
While CBU is aggressively tapping into overseas markets — enrolment of international students increased by more than 30 per cent between 2012 and 2015 — the university is also focused on recruiting
Cape Breton students.
Cape Breton University’s domestic enrolment services manager Cynthia Vokey said local students still make up about 50 per cent of the student population, which is typically around 3,000.
“It continues to be one of our most important markets, and we’re constantly going out there to different schools to actively recruit Cape Breton students to come here,” she said, adding that in addition to lower overall costs and home-cooked meals, CBU also offers “niche
programs” like the bachelor of arts community studies that aren’t available at other institutions. “We want them to stay local because we know that we have some of the best programming that there is out there, and we want our students to experience that and we know that they’ll a have a world-class experience if they do come to Cape Breton University.”
And Boudreau was confident Tuesday he’s chosen the right school — and the right career.
“I considered other schools but then I narrowed it down to CBU,” he said. “I like helping people and interacting with people, so it seemed like something I’d be interested in.”