Orientation leaders and new engineering students gather for a group photo in front of the Engineering teaching and Learning Complex.
(Edmonton) No matter how old you are or where you're going to school, the first day of classes can cause jitters. Just ask first-year engineering students at the University of Alberta, whose nerves were calmed Monday during first-year orientation.
But a day of tours, information and sharing with senior engineering students, including an address from the dean, seemed to put the new students at ease.
First-year students said they were impressed with a brief talk by Dean of Engineering Fraser Forbes, who advised them to work hard, but also to take advantage of student life.
"This is the biggest adventure of your lives," Forbes told the students. "Please treat it that way…you're going to meet people here who are going to be your friends for the rest of your life."
Forbes congratulated the students for being admitted to the U of A engineering program, which he said has the highest admissions requirement of any U of A program. The Faculty of Engineering is one of the best in the country, and it is demanding. He told students that life in university is much different than life in high school-and they must form study groups and work with others.
"Engineering is a team sport," he said. "There is no way you are getting an engineering education by yourself."
Students who have focused on earning good grades will now have to change their priorities, he added.
"Now is the time to make the transition from focusing on grades to focusing on learning," he said.
New students said they found the talk and orientation program helpful and inspiring.
"A lot of students are so focused on their grades that they don't make a lot of friends," said first-year student AJ Gill. "I think it's important to be making friends."
Halimatou Sacko, who arrived in Edmonton a year ago from Guinea to upgrade her English skills before entering engineering, agreed.
"I was kind of surprised to hear that, but there's truth in what he said," she said. "You have to have balance in life."
Being in the company of high-achieving students had Panagiota Fytopoulou admittedly stressed out. But orientation changed that.
"It relieved a lot of stress and nervousness," she said. "I was thinking "Oh, I'm going to meet all these people who are smarter than me and I'll have to compete with them," but obviously, you have to make friends!"
With classes starting, she's looking forward to her engineering education.
"I chose engineering because it seems to be the most interesting and diverse program-there are so many things you can do," she said. "Even if I choose mechanical engineering, I can still decide what kind of mechanical engineering I want to do. There's a lot of choice."