On Monday, Sept. 3, over 600 first-year students moved into residence in Brantford and began their new life journey away from home.  Welcoming them were volunteer upper-year students who gave them a helping-hand moving into their rooms and showing them around campus.  Excitement and anticipation were everywhere as everyone got settled in at their new homes and prepared themselves for Laurier Brantford’s 2012 Orientation Week.

Kate Doyle, Director of Orientation Programming and Events, expects a turnout of at least 600 students for this year’s O-week, out of the 811 new first-year students enrolled at the university this year. Although by Thursday of last week only a little over half of that number had been met, at 304 signups for O-week Doyle was not concerned with the lower-than-expected early confirmations. “We have not had a lot [of registrations] online, because we’ve been having issues with the website,” said Doyle. (This is the first year that Laurier Brantford has used a website that is Waterloo-based.) Doyle still expected more registrations in the last days leading up to O-Week and “expect[ed] at least 200 more on move-in day.”

Stephanie Davidson, a first-year Con-Ed student, registered early for O-Week and did not have any trouble registering, but knows other students who did: “…many people in some of the Laurier Brantford Facebook groups have been having difficulty. I know a lot of their difficulty was with their actual ID number and how it says that it is incorrect.” Despite problems with online registration, many incoming students on Facebook groups have inquired and plan to register on move-in day.

“I’m going to be a blue shark for the week! I am looking forward to so much [this] week. I’m excited to meet new people and make lifelong friends,” said Davidson.

This eagerness to begin her post-secondary education at Laurier, and her new life in Brantford, has been echoed by other first-years on the Facebook groups online created specifically for incoming Laurier Brantford students. Many incoming students had already made new friends, before even moving to Brantford on Monday.  They have also used the social media site to: figure out buying textbooks (using the group Laurier Brantford Used Books), to meet other first-years in the same program or residence, and to makes plans for O-Week.

By the end of Monday, over 100 more students had signed-up, bringing the grand total to over 650 students, including over 100 LEAF students