welcome week | thesil.ca

C/O Christian Braun

The Silhouette: Please introduce yourself.

Wil Fujarczuk: My name is Wil Fujarczuk. I use he/him pronouns. I currently manage the sexual violence prevention education program and the sexual violence prevention and response office, which are under the equity and inclusion office. My alter-ego is Miss Unita Assk and she's a consent-educating drag queen. I use Unita to open the doors into what can be a really tough conversation around sexual violence and to provide some queer representation.

C/O Christian Braun

What inspired you to enter this role?

Fujarczuk: I had a big moment in grad school that flipped my thinking . . . I took a course on gender, peace-building and human security . . . After the course ended, some classmates invited me to San Jose, the capital city, to write anti-street harassment messages. I noticed all the men who came to speak to us came to speak to me. Not any of my women classmates. It was a moment of recognizing what it means to use your privilege for others. I started to learn more about sexual harassment and sexual violence more broadly and these experiences really gave me the opportunity to think about: "What's my role as a cis, queer man in this work? What does it mean to use the social location I occupy, the privileges I have, the oppression I face, all these pieces?" It's also allowed me to reflect on my own sense of self, my relationship to my gender. I think I've become a better human and a better man because of doing this work, grounding myself in feminism and learning from people who have been doing this work for so long.

What inspired you to start doing drag, particularly at McMaster?

Fujarczuk: I know folks in the corporate world who are my age who are not open about their sexuality at work. We know the stats are even higher for trans folks in workplaces. That bring[s] into question: "Is this a safe place for me? Do I have to compromise certain elements of myself to be "professional"?" Part of it is demonstrating to students that — no, you don't.

For me, it's also about queer representation on campus. I think of myself as an awkward, queer, scrawny first-year: had I known that there was a staff member who was a part-time drag queen on campus [and] how that would impact me. It's about that representation and visibility. It's about making this conversation a little bit more approachable. At Welcome Week, [it’s about] having Unita present and that level of visibility. And I'll actually be hosting Mac Welcome this year, which is very exciting.

"I think of myself as an awkward, queer, scrawny first-year: had I known that there was a staff member who was a part-time drag queen on campus [and] how that would impact me. It's about that representation and visibility. It's about making this conversation a little bit more approachable."
Wil Fujarczuk (aka Unita Assk), Sexual Violence prevention Education Manager

Part of the idea with Unita was also to focus on strengths. At grad school, we learned about negative peace and positive peace. Negative peace is the absence of war, the absence of violence. Positive peace is the presence of reconciliation, all these other beautiful things. I think about that in terms of sexual violence. Yes, it's important to talk about what we don't want: a world without sexual violence. But, yes, it's important to talk about what we do want . . . healthy sexuality, healthy relationships, queer representation and people being comfortable with who they are. So Unita's taking it out of this first peace into this peace around: What do we want? What is the world we want to build?

"Yes, it's important to talk about what we don't want: a world without sexual violence. But, yes, it's important to talk about what we do want . . . healthy sexuality, healthy relationships, queer representation and people being comfortable with who they are. So Unita's taking it out of this first peace into this peace around: What do we want? What is the world we want to build?"
Wil Fujarczuk (aka Unita Assk), Sexual Violence prevention Education Manager

What advice would you give to your younger self or incoming 2SLGBTQIA+ students at McMaster?

Fujarczuk: The first thing that comes to mind is stealing Priyanka's words — winner of Canada's Drag Race season one — just be gay. But I also know that journey of coming to where I am was [a] part of it. I couldn't just be gay because we grow up in, not just heteronormative, but homophobic families, cultures, societies and schools. It's also self-compassion, not "just be gay". It doesn't mean letting myself off the hook for everything. It means acknowledging what's going on in my life. I'm doing what I can and that I don't have to always give it my all.

Also, find people who embrace you for who you are. I know that this isn't new but there's a truth to it. Sometimes we bend ourselves into a different shape to accommodate what we think people expect of us. Then the folks who might be drawn to us in our full, true, authentic selves might not be drawn to us. We miss that connection. By having that self-compassion, by being yourself as much as we're able, I think we can draw folks in who celebrate us. That's key.

C/O Travis Nguyen

A closer look at the elected first-year representatives for the MES and their hopes for the future

By: Kirsten Espe, Contributor

On Sept. 27, 2021, the results for the 2021-2022 McMaster Engineering Society elections were announced. After a year and a half of online learning, all candidates, especially the first-year representatives, were excited and optimistic about an in-person university experience.

Following a week-long campaign, six first-year Engineering students were elected by their peers to represent the biotechnology, computer science, engineering 1 and integrated biomedical engineering and health sciences programs.

Halima Banuso, one of the three level one engineering representatives, spoke about her early interest in becoming involved at McMaster.

“[The] MES were basically the ones who ran the Red Suits for Welcome Week . . . I just really loved all the activities and the Red Suits are super cool. I remember me and my friend asked ‘Oh, how do you become a Red Suit because I wanna do that [in my] second year too’,” said Banuso.

Aside from the excitement of returning to a somewhat in-person experience, Banuso was also enthusiastic to get back to doing something that she loved.

“I was that person who just really liked going to every event and planning every event and I was on my high school student council . . . Obviously school’s important, but that’s not necessarily what you’re going to remember and in a few years you’re going to remember the memories, the friends you made, the cool events you got to go to, so I really like being a part of that stuff,” said Banuso.

The first-year integrated biomedical engineering and health sciences representative, Dhanya Koshti, said that one of his main motivators in applying to the position was his desire for community.

“Everyone knows what they’re doing but they are way more for working towards collaboration over competition,” said Koshti.

Koshti made an astute connection between the distinctiveness of his program and the McMaster “Fireball Family” by comparing the bridge of engineering and health sciences.

“We’re sort of that hybrid in-between . . . We have this really unique relationship dynamic with each other and I really wanted to build on that connection,” explained Koshti.

Hetanshu Pandya, the first-year computer science representative, also spoke about the importance of his position in relation to the community at McMaster.

“[Students] can share their thoughts, their experiences, their opinions, whether it be negative or positive . . . and you can share it [with] me and I can communicate that with the council,” said Pandya.

“[Students] can share their thoughts, their experiences, their opinions, whether it be negative or positive . . . and you can share it [with] me and I can communicate that with the council.”
Hetanshu Pandya, first-year computer science representative

Pandya said his main goal is to represent first-year computer science students fairly and effectively, with hopes of exceeding both his and his fellow peers’ expectations for the year.

Due to the partial online environment currently established at McMaster University, candidates found themselves honing their technological skills to campaign, particularly through social media.

Matthew Arias, the biotechnology first-year representative, commented on his campaign that was done on Instagram.

“[The] first thing I did was make an Instagram account because everybody’s on Instagram and it’s kind of the easiest way to reach out. I’d make Instagram posts on another website with graphic designing and I posted on there,” explained Arias.

Arias also highlighted that some of his fellow students would repost his posts without him ever asking, further driving home the sense of community the other representatives spoke about.

All four engineering representatives echoed similar sentiments to their fellow first-year students of the MES prior to the start of their official term.

“To the same extent that you all supported me, I really want to be there to help you guys. That is what this position, really, is all about,” said Koshti.

“To the same extent that you all supported me, I really want to be there to help you guys. That is what this position, really, is all about.”
Dhanya Koshti, FIRST-YEAR INTEGRATED BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND HEALTH SCieNCES REPRESENTATIVE

“Whether things are virtual, or in-person, someone’s on-residence, or off-residence, [I hope that] we can all come together and really feel a part of the McMaster engineering community,” said Banuso.

“Whether things are virtual, or in-person, someone’s on-residence, or off-residence, [I hope that] we can all come together and really feel a part of the McMaster engineering community.”
Halima Banuso, first-year engineering 1 reps

Despite the different circumstances students may be in due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these four representatives look forward to building a strong community for first-year engineering students.

C/O Travis Nguyen

How McMaster’s first-year students attended a welcome week amid a global pandemic

Welcome Week is a week dedicated to incoming freshmen, allowing them to participate in activities that encourage forming connections with their classmates. Though it is such a well known event amongst university students, only one year of students can attest to attending such an event in the midst of a global pandemic.

The freshman entering McMaster University in the year of 2021 have found themselves trying to adjust to university life in the midst of the pandemic. Despite the pandemic, they began their year with a welcome week with socially distancing guidelines.

“Daily screening: all attendees must complete the COVID-19 provincial self-assessment within one hour of their intended arrival on campus. Participants will be asked about the completion of screening upon arrival at the event,” stated the Student Success Centre on their COVID-19 guidelines for on-campus events.

On the Welcome Week website, seven distinct guidelines were set out to align with the City of Hamilton guidelines. This included having only 100 people at each outdoor event, including those hosting the events. Alongside this, students were required to wear masks at events where social distancing was difficult to maintain.

During the week of Sept. 1 to 8, 2021, first-years gathered all over the McMaster campus to meet their peers. The week followed a hybrid format, mixed with online and in-person components. Students were able to schedule their ideal welcome week schedule with the McMaster Welcome Week website.

“Coming out of a year of fully online school basically, Grade 12, it was just really nice to walk outside and see people, just interact with other people. Being in the center of this more social environment after so much isolation,” said Nazifa Tasnim, a first-year engineering student.

This hybrid approach was appreciated by students as it allowed them an opportunity to meet classmates. Tasnim was open to admitting that virtual aspects of the events were often a little harder when it came down to meeting new people.

“There were virtual events that I signed up for but more or less it was only fun sometimes because I would have my friends, who also lived in my residency building, in the room with me doing the games. In terms of meeting new people, the virtual events were really hard when it came down to knowing anyone. The physical interactions were better in terms of getting to know someone for the first time. At least that’s what I think a lot of people feel. Definitely how I feel,” said Tasnim.

All of these events were run by upper-year undergraduate students. The large majority chose to volunteer their first weeks of university to help guide their younger classmates. To prepare these upper-year students for their roles, they had mandatory training and this year, training was marginally different as they had to factor in COVID-19.

“We had a COVD-19 awareness training that was done via Avenue to Learn. We also had an in-person training that also went over COVID guidelines and all the social distancing rules. I found that they were relatively efficient because during the event all the guidelines were enforced,” said Angelina Zhang, a second-year science representative

Despite being older than the first-years, many were second-years, students who had also been new to the physical campus. Zhang shared how her online experience impacted her role as a Sciclone.

“As a second-year representative, during Welcome Week 2021, while not having any in-person events for my first year I feel really rewarded doing this. Because I am helping the first years this year to have a better Welcome Week experience than I did last year,” said Zhang.

Different faculties had a wide variety of events. When speaking with an arts and science representative, they talked about how they adapted to Welcome Week amid COVID-19.

“In terms of the planning specifically, all the faculties got together once a week for two hours with other administrative people throughout the whole summer to go through training, plan the events and get the student input side of things. For us specifically, it was two to three hours every week and we worked together to bounce ideas off each other,” said Nicole Rob, co-planner for arts & science Welcome Week events.

Rob proceeded to explain how COVID-19 guidelines affected each faculty differently.

“Every faculty is different because we have different numbers of students. For example, Arts & Science, as well as [the] Indigenous Studies Program, are the two faculties that have the least amount of students.

[The arts & sciences Program] has an incoming cohort this year of 68 students. Whereas there are faculties like Science that have 1,700 coming in this year. So what we can do and what type of events we did plan looks a little different for each faculty because of those numbers,” said Rob.

First-year students were allowed the opportunity to reside in the residence buildings found all over campus. This allowed for events that pertained to helping them meet and bond with their roommates.

“I live in [residence]. I do think it helped improve my Welcome Week experience mostly because there were a lot of [residence-specific] Welcome Week events. In those groupings, I got to meet people who also lived in my building or surrounding buildings, which meant that there were more people that I would get to see often, and would already know their names,” said Tasnim.

As one of the many planners of this week-long event, Rob shared what her favourite part of Welcome Week was.

“I think just seeing all of it come together was really cool. With COVID right now everything is fairly uncertain and it is hard to even envision an in-person event at this point because it has been so long since we’ve seen big gatherings of people. It was nice to be able to give the first-years that experience, as someone who had a fully online Welcome Week. As a second-year it was cool to see the first-years be able to enjoy a bit of the in-person experience,” she said.

Overall, Welcome Week was one that was truly historic. Despite the stresses and inconveniences brought about by COVID-19, Welcome Week this year was a huge success and an appreciated welcome for the incoming class.

C/O Yoohyun Park

Although many hoped for an in-person year, hybrid learning continues to have mental health impacts on students

Since March of 2020, almost all McMaster University students have been unable to attend in-person classes, access on-campus services, or engage in extracurricular activities on campus. However, this fall, for the first time in over a year, students finally have the ability to return to campus for some in-person activities.

“[McMaster is] focusing our planning on providing safe and meaningful in-person experiences for you this fall,” said a fall 2021 update for students published on April 30.

Avery Kemble, a second-year student at McMaster, expressed an appreciation for the reopening of campus, citing the mental health benefits of learning around others and being able to access communal study spaces.

“I think the vast majority of students want to be on campus. It is so isolating to be by yourself, doing school in your room for twelve hours a day. Being able to go on campus is so helpful for me, and I’m way more productive in a library than I am on my own,” said Kemble.

For Camille Lisser, a first-year student, this hybrid learning environment is her first experience learning at McMaster. Lisser explained that even though she only has one tutorial in person this semester, being in residence and having access to spaces on campus allows her to learn with other people.

“My roommate is also in [Arts & Science], so we’ve been trying to join a lot of the online [classes] together, and that’s been really helpful because one thing that I’ve really missed was being able to [attend class] sitting next to someone,” said Lisser.

Lisser and Kemble both noted that along with the mental health benefits of learning alongside other students, there are also mental health benefits associated with being around other students in a social context too.

Despite the mental health benefits of the return to campus, there are also mental health challenges associated with the return to in-person learning.

After a year of online learning, returning to campus has created challenges such as COVID-19-related anxiety, stress associated with a change in routine and increased social exhaustion.

“During Welcome Week, I was super tired, and I couldn’t figure out why I was so tired. What I think now is that it’s because there [were so many social events], and it was coming from a very non-social [time period] to a very social [time period],” explained Lisser.

Kemble pointed out that, for second-year students specifically, another significant mental health challenge is the lack of social connection between students because they spent their first year online.

“A lot of us still don’t know anybody in our program,” said Kemble.

According to Kemble, McMaster’s second-year welcome events were seen as an attempt to combat this mental health challenge. However, due to the low registration capacity for those events, many second-year students were not able to access them.

How McMaster’s first-year students attended a welcome week amid a global pandemic

“Coming out of a year of fully online school basically, Grade 12, it was just really nice to walk outside and see people, just interact with other people. Being in the center of this more social environment after so much isolation,” said Nazifa Tasnim, a first-year engineering student.

Despite being older than the first-years, many were second-years, students who had also been new to the physical campus. Zhang shared how her online experience impacted her role as a Sciclone.

Different faculties had a wide variety of events. When speaking with an arts and science representative, they talked about how they adapted to Welcome Week amid COVID-19.

Rob proceeded to explain how COVID-19 guidelines affected each faculty differently.

“Every faculty is different because we have different numbers of students. For example, Arts & Science, as well as [the] Indigenous Studies Program, are the two faculties that have the least amount of students. [The arts & sciences Program] has an incoming cohort this year of 68 students. Whereas there are faculties like Science that have 1,700 coming in this year. So what we can do and what type of events we did plan looks a little different for each faculty because of those numbers,” said Rob.

First-year students were allowed the opportunity to reside in the residence buildings found all over campus. This allowed for events that pertained to helping them meet and bond with their roommates.

As one of the many planners of this week-long event, Rob shared what her favourite part of Welcome Week was.

C/O Travis Nguyen, Photo Editor

Second-years were able to experience their own Welcome Week after a year of online class

Often, when students think about the beginning of their university experience, they think about Welcome Week, a week dedicated to welcoming first-year students to campus. Welcome Week provides first-year students with the opportunity to meet new people and orient themselves around campus.

However, students who entered university in the year of 2020 faced a new reality to this monumental event. For the majority of those students, classmates were met virtually, through platforms such as Zoom. Though this had its own benefits, these students were not able to experience Welcome Week.

The missed occasion was not unnoticed by those who planned Welcome Week as McMaster University announced that these students who missed out would be able to join their classmates on Sept. 11, 2021.

Second-year undergraduate students were offered a Second-Year Welcome, where they can register for and attend a variety of events meant to capture community-building aspects of an in-person Welcome Week.

In the morning, students can discover the student services provided by McMaster, then have a few hours to meet peers within their faculty and make friends at different MSU events. These events seem to very simply condense what would have happened over a week into a day.

“We want to give you the in-person welcome we couldn’t give you at Welcome Week 2020,” the Student Success Centre said in their announcement.

Jacquie Hampshire and Rachel Nelson were two of the staff members of the SSC who helped ensure that Second-Year Welcome unfolds accordingly. They stated that given how last year's welcome week had panned out, this year's welcome was in the making for over a year.

“When we had learned that last year was going to be a virtual welcome week, at that time the welcome week advisory committee alongside all of our partners on campus had committed to hosting an in-person event when it was safe to do so. So this has been, I would now say, well over a year in terms of thinking about this welcome, and waiting until we were safely able to welcome students to McMaster campus,” said Hampshire.

"When we had learned that last year was going to be a virtual welcome week, at that time the welcome week advisory committee alongside all of our partners on campus had committed to hosting an in-person event when it was safe to do so. So this has been, I would now say, well over a year in terms of thinking about this welcome, and waiting until we were safely able to welcome students to McMaster campus."
Jacquie Hampshire, staff member of the SSC

While discussing the meticulous planning that went into this event, Hampshire and Nelson explained the question that was on many second-year students’ minds: Why was a traditionally week-long event limited to a single day? When asked this question it was all down to one word: accessibility.

“We had considered all options when we were looking at the planning of this event to figure out what was going to be the best. We had landed on offering a one day event for a number of reasons. One is just logistically, for students that are living out of town to provide them the opportunity to be able to come to campus. Offering the event on multiple days doesn’t afford the quite same accessibility for students that may not be in close proximity to the campus. Looking at a one day format has allowed us to maximize the event and also be able to provide this event to all students,” said Hampshire.

They were also asked how exactly the entirety of the second-year population would be on campus while maintaining social distancing guidelines. Hampshire and Nelson quickly reassured that when sign-ups for events had 100 person limits on each and all events were guaranteed to be outside.

Alongside this, students were also required to use MacCheck to ensure they were allowed on campus. MacCheck is an app where McMaster students have to upload proof of vaccination and daily check-ins to ensure that no one is entering campus with COVID-19. With all these precautions put in place, it would maintain the guidelines that were instructed by the city of Hamilton.

As Vice-President of Student Affairs for the McMaster Science Society, Isabelle Son was in charge of ensuring that second-year science students would be able to socialize with their faculty peers during the event.

She was asked to summarize what she wanted Second-Year Welcome to achieve.

“It’s an opportunity for second years to meet each other, because they didn’t get the opportunity to have on-res experience or the in-person welcome experience last year. I know that’s where I met a lot of my friends, and how I met lots of people so this would be an opportunity for them to socialize with their peers and get a glimpse of what welcome week in-person would look like for them,” said Son.

With the large variety and possible popularity among some events, Son’s team had to plan how to ensure science events were all within guidelines.

“Our capacity for outside is 100 people. But we are splitting it up into three different stations and all three stations are in different areas on the Burke Science Building field. So each station can have 100 people. We will have 20 executives and/or representatives at each station so that means only 80 students can sign up for each station. Masks will be encouraged, all the executives and representatives will be wearing them. Within events, each person will be spaced out and put into smaller groups at each station. This is to encourage interacting with less people,” Son explained.

McMaster’s second-years have waited diligently for the idea of a proper welcome to the campus where they will be spending their years as a young adult. The Second-Year Welcome has given them the opportunity they had been waiting for.

Struggling to connect with one another through virtual classes, first-year students found community on social media

After four months of Zoom and Microsoft Teams, McMaster University students can finally say that their first semester of online learning is behind them. Some students, however, have only ever experienced McMaster online.

Since September, first-year students at McMaster have experienced a virtual transition to university. As residence is closed for the majority of first years, most have had to meet their peers virtually. However, the opportunities for socialization are different and more limited in an online classroom setting.

Navya Sheth, a first-year arts and science student from Oakville, Ontario, reflected on her first semester. For her, the hardest part of online school was forming connections with her peers through the screen, rather than the new academic challenges.

For Navya Sheth, the hardest part of online school was forming connections with her peers through the screen.

In anticipation of the social challenges that come with an entirely remote school year, McMaster tried to foster community among first-year students by adapting orientation to fit the online environment. This orientation involved a virtual Welcome Week and a new program called Archway, which was designed to help students access resources and meet new friends.

Saumyaa Rishi, a first-year life sciences student from Ottawa, Ontario, was grateful for the effort put into Welcome Week. Nonetheless, she found it difficult to connect with other first-years in that setting.

“When you do these online [social events], there’s always a bigger group of people. It’s not like in-person where you can just talk to the person standing next to you,” Rishi said.

“When you do these online [social events], there’s always a bigger group of people. It’s not like in-person where you can just talk to the person standing next to you,” Rishi said.

Sheth expressed a similar sentiment when discussing her experiences with McMaster’s online social events, in particular, the Archway program. While she did enjoy the Zoom events hosted by the Arts and Science program, she found Archway wasn’t a conducive platform for her to make social connections.

Aniruddh Arora, a first-year international student in the computer science program, found that Archway was most beneficial at the start of the semester. “It was helpful for the first one or two weeks,” Arora noted.

“I had my own friend groups on WhatsApp and Instagram,” Arora explained.

Arora then added that he later stopped attending meetings. Not only did he no longer have time in his busy academic schedule to attend Archway meetings, he also didn’t find it necessary anymore.

“I had my own friend groups on WhatsApp and Instagram,” he explained.

Arora is not the only first-year student who has found community on social media. Over the last few months, some first-year students at McMaster have relied on social media to connect and communicate.

“When you talked to people [on social media], you knew that they were sort of going through the same thing,” said Rishi.

Rishi described social media as being a positive force in her first semester. “When you talked to people [on social media], you knew that they were sort of going through the same thing,” said Rishi.

According to Rishi, the impact of social media on her first-year experience has been far-reaching. Not only has social media been instrumental in the formation of friendships, as Rishi noted, but it has also helped first-year students to feel connected to the McMaster community in other ways.

Social media been instrumental in the formation of friendships.

Arora, who is attending McMaster from his home in Punjab, India, pointed out the academic benefits of social media on first-year students. As timezones often prevent him from being awake during the same hours as his professors, Arora has found the group chats created on various social media platforms to be a valuable academic support system.

“It really helps if you’re stuck on an assignment,” Arora explained.

As timezones often prevent him from being awake during the same hours as his professors, Arora has found the group chats created on various social media platforms to be a valuable academic support system. “It really helps if you’re stuck on an assignment,” Arora explained.

Social media has helped first-year students get involved with extracurricular activities as well. As an active member of the McMaster Moot Court, Sheth noted that she found out about the majority of extracurricular opportunities through Instagram.

On the impact that social media had on her first semester, Sheth believed Instagram links people to places where they feel connected albeit virtually. However she noted the challenges of a virtual first-year remain significant on students as some feel isolated to figure out how to adapt to online university.

“[Some] upper-years are living together in houses and can see each other, and I’m at home, trying to figure this out on my own,” Sheth said. “And I think that might be something that all first years are struggling with.”

Undergraduate students share their thoughts on cultivating community during COVID-19

Last year as autumn descended and we neared Reading Week, the world and the McMaster University campus looked very different. First-year students were learning to navigate campus and starting to make friends in their classes and in residence. Upper-year students were trying to put into practice the lessons they learned in first year and were reconnecting after having been apart all summer. Between Welcome Week and homecoming, it was the time of year when feelings of community and belonging were the most obvious. On top of the new university community forming, students would be anticipating going home for Thanksgiving family gatherings or making plans with new and old friends.

As we come around to this time of year again, much has changed. Some changes are obvious such as the shift to online classes, while others are more subtle such as how we create and maintain community. Prior to the pandemic, community meant being in the same physical place, seeing each other frequently and often participating in activities together. Now as a result of the physical distancing protocols, this kind of community is very difficult to achieve, let alone maintain. More than ever, students are facing social isolation and loneliness.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEywD32hTL7/

The pandemic has forced the world to rethink community, but for students who are scattered across the country and around the world, it is particularly difficult. However, students have been creative in finding new ways to connect with each other, create new online communities and support established relationships. Largely this has meant turning to online platforms and social media.

“When I open up my computer now, I'm part of a community but the second I close it, I feel like I'm lost and I'm not part of it, whereas before COVID, it was easier to kind of stay as a part of a community . . . [W]hen you were on your own, you never really felt as isolated,” explained Zahra Panju, a second-year student.

“When I open up my computer now, I'm part of a community but the second I close it, I feel like I'm lost and I'm not part of it."

While friendships now require more effort to sustain than they did in person, many students explained that they are grateful for the increasing use of online platforms and phone calls. It has given them an excuse to reconnect with high school friends and extended family members, who they may not have spoken to in a while or would not be able to see in person anyway.

However, when trying to build new connections, the effortful component of virtual communities can be a hindrance. As a first-year student, the transition to university is always a bit bumpy, but the adjustment to online classes and the lack of an established community has made it incredibly overwhelming and isolating.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEmUqzaH8p8/

“Even Welcome Week, you hear so much about it and how it's this great week, you make so many friends [and] you connect with people but this year, you couldn't even see each other. We couldn't really talk to each other much with the events . . . I think that the general McMaster community . . . has been difficult, just because I don't think we've been given enough opportunities to connect with one another,” said first-year student Isabelle Cardos.

Often joining clubs on campus is a crucial component to finding community at university. While many current first-year students are interested in doing so, they expressed that they don’t know where to start looking. They are also not sure if now is the right time as they are still adjusting to their classes.

In contrast, many second- and third-year students have found themselves joining more clubs this year in an attempt to create the sense of community that they feel they’re missing. As they don’t necessarily get the opportunity to meet new people through lectures anymore, they see clubs as an opportunity to connect with people outside their program who are also interested in building and community.

Fourth-year students in particular are grateful that they have been able to establish a strong sense of community already. They are now not only looking for ways to maintain that community but also for ways to further establish a community for all students. Many fourth-year students spearhead a number of clubs and initiatives on campus and have been working hard to adapt these to the pandemic. They feel that this year the impact of their efforts is a lot more apparent, and also arguably more important.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_C6gqynpSN/

“[W]e're finding a lot of new people tuning in and I’m kind of hopeful about new connections that can be made . . . [T]hese are probably the hardest times that people have had to face in terms of going to university and . . . if an online connection isn't always just the tedious work thing, then that’s important,” said fourth-year student Rhea Murti, who is co-president of the McMaster Yoga club and also involved in organizing the McMaster Indigenous Health Movement.

“[W]e're finding a lot of new people tuning in and I’m kind of hopeful about new connections that can be made."

Overall, students clearly expressed the importance of supporting each other. Many felt that the pandemic has encouraged them to be more open and more vulnerable with their family and friends, even if they are connecting online because they know everyone is going through a difficult time.

“I feel like before the pandemic the need wasn't as urgent to really build community and be empathetic . . . I feel like we were kind of moving away from that before the pandemic. I feel like since this happened it's kind of forced us back into this place, I feel like we naturally have to be in, towards just being nice to each other,” said Blessing Akinniranye, a fourth-year student and assistant director of Diversity Services.

While the McMaster community is still navigating these changes and trying to find new ways to connect and maintain connections, there is still a very strong sense of community as students look for ways to support each other through these trying times.

The latest health and safety measures mean first-year orientation has had to shift to online delivery.

Welcome Week took on a very new look this year by going virtual. COVID-19 restrictions and McMaster University’s decision to have an online fall term pushed Welcome Week programming and supports to new platforms. From Archway to live and recorded events during Welcome Week, campus organizations have adapted in-person orientation supports to provide incoming first-year students with opportunities to meet other students, learn campus resources and gain university academic skills.

Archway

The Archway program was developed by McMaster Residence Life staff to provide every incoming first-year with a community of 40 other students, an archway mentor and an archway coach. Archway provides each incoming first-year student with proactive guidance, personalized support and a community based on interests. The students meet one-on-one with their mentor and their community once a month and engage with Archway-wide programming throughout the summer and school year.

“[T]he focus is always on the first years . . . [and] to help students in the long run to make sure they are supported throughout this online environment as much as possible,” said Kyle Faiczak, the residence orientation planner for Residence Life.

“[T]he focus is always on the first years . . . [and] to help students in the long run to make sure they are supported throughout this online environment as much as possible,” said Kyle Faiczak, the residence orientation planner for Residence Life.

The coaches are full-time McMaster staff and the mentors are McMaster undergraduate students. These roles are designed to provide first-year students with one-on-one support, provide resources and referrals to appropriate offices and to foster relationships in the broader McMaster community.

Jonathan Zaslavsky, a fourth-year integrated science student and archway mentor, was initially hired as a residence orientation advisor. With the transition to online orientation programming, he helped create activities and events for Archway. Prior to Welcome Week, he and the other mentors met with their first-year students to encourage them to engage with the programming. Archway’s presence during Welcome Week was limited to avoid overwhelming students. Some mentors were present at the McMaster welcome event as familiar faces who helped connect first-years with faculty representatives. Zaslavsky said that his role during Welcome Week was to support the students through a one-on-one capacity.

Faiczak has been working to develop content for what he’s calling the McMaster experience by taking typical first-year activities that would take place in-person and redesigning them for a virtual environment. Activities like taking photos at Edwards arch might be recreated as an Instagram filter. Apart from that, he’s worked to support the mentors and will continue to develop programming and adjust priorities as needed by the students.

Welcome Week

The Student Success Centre and faculty representatives both designed and ran programming for the virtual Welcome Week. Events involved the strategic themes of responsible substance use, sexual violence prevention, response, support, mental health and well-being. Students filled out RSVP forms to receive the necessary links to each event, available through a central Welcome Week website with a schedule of over 200 events. Among the roster of activities were inter-faculty trivia, academic success workshops, international student orientation and a celebration of Black, Indigenous and other students of colour.

The Welcome Week schedule offered a mix of live, on-your-own and multiple session events. Live programming included SSC workshops and faculty socials, while MSU Campus Events hosted solo trivia. Some events were hosted at multiple times to accommodate larger groups and create a more intimate atmosphere, as well as to accommodate different time zones. Both the live and on-your-own events included closed captions. Events were scheduled throughout the day, starting as early as 8 a.m. and last events beginning at 8 p.m. Madeleine Raad, the Welcome Week faculty coordinator stated that both the earliest and latest time slots were the most popular. International students had to take into consideration the time difference when participating in synchronous events.

Students also have the option to watch recordings from many of the academic and student life events that took place during Welcome Week, providing another avenue for participation. Raad said that though participation has been a bit lower this year than the typical in-person welcome week, there were still a lot of engaged and enthusiastic first years. By Sept. 3, there were over 25,000 RSVP forms with 8,000 incoming first-years. Though not every student participated, there were still many students who wanted to be involved in virtual welcome week.

When reached for an interview about the MSU’s involvement with the changes to Welcome Week, MSU President Giancarlo Da-Ré and VP Administration Graeme Noble declined a phone interview.

If we have the ability to hold more accessible events, what’s stopping us from doing that?

This year, McMaster University’s Welcome Week was held entirely online due to the physical distancing restrictions in place for COVID-19. As a result, many events took place through platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Discord, Zoom and Twitch.

Events were held in two different ways. There were synchronous events, or events that took place during an allotted time with live representatives, that ranged from as early as 8 a.m. to as late as 8 p.m. On the other hand, some events were asynchronous and a long period of time was provided for first-years interested in participating and had no live component to the event. For example, the McMaster Students Union website scavenger hunt, which could have been completed any time during Welcome Week, required students to search through the MSU website to complete tasks. However, asynchronous events seemed to be few and far between, when we should be aiming to hold more events that don’t impose specific timing restrictions in order to increase accessibility for Mac students.

There are many issues with synchronous events. The first issue arises with the fact that the Welcome Week schedule is in eastern daylight time, which automatically puts international students at a loss. During an in-person Welcome Week, many international students are already disadvantaged, as events largely cater to English-speaking students. In addition, domestic and in-province students often know a few students going into McMaster, whether it is a family member, high school classmate or friend, which can ease the transition into university. On the other hand, international students may rely on orientations such as Welcome Week to make friends.

Since many events take place during EDT daytime hours, students who have large time zone differences may find it hard to attend events as many events will occur during the night for them. In addition, some platforms used for synchronous events are Twitch and Discord, which are blocked in China. This adds an extra barrier for students who want to attend events but are living outside of Canada. McMaster has provided the option for students in China to use a free express virtual private network to access McMaster’s online learning resources, but it’s unclear whether this will include extracurricular activities that are not related to academics.

It is important to note that many of the synchronous events were held multiple times throughout Welcome Week. For example, the faculty of social sciences held an event titled “Let’s Chat About It” which was held at four different times on Sept. 7. In addition, some Welcome Week events were recorded, which gives students who could not attend access to information they may have missed. While these are good considerations and we should continue to provide multiple options for students, we need to continue to strengthen these accommodations by making them completely asynchronous. Although recorded events are great, they do not provide students with an option to interact and engage with the event other than watching or listening to a video.

Although recorded events are great, they do not provide students with an option to interact and engage with the event other than watching or listening to a video.

Another issue with synchronous events is that many of these events are held either very early in the morning or during normal work hours, which prevents many students from attending. While past Welcome Weeks events also occurred at these times, it is now likely that more students are working part-time or full-time to make up for the financial strain that COVID-19 has had on everyone. Early morning events, on the other hand, can be difficult for students to attend as COVID-19 has had an impact on many people’s ability to have a consistent sleep schedule.

What we do know is that we have the capacity to run asynchronous events. The MSU website scavenger hunt proves that we can successfully hold asynchronous events. Making asynchronous events that are interactive and informative makes the event more accessible for students who may not be able to attend events at specific times due to a difference in time zone, a day job or because they’re dealing with sleeping problems.

Making asynchronous events that are interactive and informative makes the event more accessible for students who may not be able to attend events at specific times due to a difference in time zone, a day job or because they’re dealing with sleeping problems.

Asynchronous timing of events is something that we should consider continuing for events taking place throughout the school year. As we continue to physically distance and cope with an ongoing pandemic, many students are facing additional challenges that may not have come up during a normal school year.

Some people may argue that asynchronous events are harder to plan — and while that may be true, we shouldn’t avoid planning more accessible events just because they’re more difficult to hold. If Welcome Week is supposed to help first-years build community with their peers, we shouldn’t be leaving certain groups out of Welcome Week just because it’s more convenient.