Champlain College back in session
The campus of Champlain College Lennoxville came back to life on Monday as students new and returning began the fall semester of their 2018-19 school year.
“Today is really the first day when everyone is on campus and wandering around and looking for their classrooms and figuring out where their friends are and all that kind of good stuff,” said Campus Director Nancy Beattie, explaining that this year’s enrollment sees the student population exceed 1,280 students. “Within the first couple weeks there are always a handful of students who disappear because they discover CEGEP isn’t the right place or they’re not quite ready for it yet, but I would expect that the vast majority of them will still be here come the drop deadline in the middle of September.”
Although the school was abuzz with activity on Monday morning, Beattie pointed out that for many students the work began on Friday with Champlain’s
orientation and administrative start day.
“It’s for all new students,” the campus director said, noting that there are 553 students attending the CEGEP for the first time this year. “They come in and get a welcome and introduction; workshops and a tour of campus, that sort of thing.”
Anyone visiting the college from either of its two entrances on Monday would have been greeted by the smiling faces of Cougar Ambassadors, successful and engaged upper level students who have volunteered their time to help newcomers find their way. According to Beattie the “welcome tent” on the west side of the building and the “Cougar Café” table set up in the main lobby are now a tradition going back several years.
“We wanted a place where new students could go and get information and maybe meet other new students, where there isn’t any pressure,” she said, adding that the ambassadors have been trained to help orient new students and help ease the transition, either from high school to CEGEP, or just back into the regular rhythms of college life.
Looking ahead into the year to come, Beattie said that the school is excited to be taking action on a new partnership formed with the community of Saintvenant-de-paquette this fall.
“It’s really a cultural milieu for Quebec literature and authors,” the campus director said.“last spring we signed a partnership agreement with them and this fall we are working on an extension of their “sentier de poesie,” she added, explaining that the space is a walking trail in the woods with art and plaques and quotes from literature and local writers.
“We’re going to be putting in a similar type of mini-mini version at the back of our building,” Beattie said, clarifying that the cost of the work will be covered by a special envelope of funding the college has received to help students master the French language and feel comfortable in French.
According to Beattie, before this winter a student committee will be formed to plan out the structure of the path in the wooded area behind the college and construction will begin. The official launch of the new area, she said, can be expected next spring.
“We have plans well underway to set up a gazebo out there as well,” she added, noting that this will give Champlain students another public gathering space. “We’re very excited about that.