As Vice President Student Life of the Student Union, I inherited an opportunity for a grand experiment in community building. In leading the planning of Orientation Week (2011) I felt I had the potential to reach incoming students at an critical inflection point that could shape their sense of place at Dalhousie.
From a logistics standpoint alone this was one of the most challenging projects I had ever taken on - entailing seven days worth of programming for 2000 participants, and coordinating over 200 volunteers and dozens of campus and community partners to make it happen as well as overseeing a $200,000 budget.
However, beyond simply facilitating these logistics, our team also set out to undertake a significant revamp of the traditional programming schedule. We focused on trying to foster a more cohesive sense of campus spirit, built on values of inclusivity, engagement and leadership. This included a greater focus on daytime programming, the creation of a 24/7 safe & creative space, and the introduction of many new events to broaden awareness of what was available in the Dalhousie and Halifax communities, as well as a commitment to a collective sense of "dalpride" instead of traditional faculty-based or residence-based identities.
The result was well worth it, as we doubled the number of volunteers and drastically increased participant retention throughout the week, with many of the new events that were introduced having since become staples of the annual O-week calendar.
To best get a sense of the unique sense of community pride fostered through the process, view the music video below we created as an anthem for future orientations (song credit to George Woodhouse, video credit to Dillon Garland):