Mount Royal University has earned a strong reputation for having a close contact between faculty and students including smaller teaching group sizes compared with many other institutions. So Calgary’s other university can be forgiven for starting off the new academic year with a whopping big bang of a lecture.
An estimated 1600 students congregated in the blue and white decked main gym, home of The Cougars, to receive encouragement and welcomes from senior staff members. Frank Warner, the creator of PostSecret, an internet sensation that allows people to share, anonymously, secrets from their lives, gave an inspiring talk about how this release can change the way people act and how they can help each other when troubled. Drummers and dancers from the Niitsitapi- the Blackfoot First Nation, on whose traditional lands the Lincoln Park campus is located, led a parade of students through the corridors, lined up with many of the university staff enthusiastically cheering them along their first steps towards a degree in four years time.
© J. Ashley Nixon
Dr Mike Quinn, Associate Vice President of Research, Scholarship and Community Engagement was amongst the academics eagerly waiting for the students to come out of their #New2MRU orientation. “This is like our New Years Eve!” he said, with a big smile on his face.
Welcome to your new academic year, students. Welcome to Mount Royal University!
© J. Ashley Nixon
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