How 2020 Started

How 2020 began...

Most St Andrew’s College journeys begin in the same way: with a student dragging a hefty suitcase across a cobblestone path lined with gumtrees until they finally look up and see an unobstructed vista of a Scottish castle and the smile of a Welcome Week Mentor ready to help them move in.

Even veterans of move-in day (those who have been involved as a nervous Fresher, an enthusiastic Mentor and a proud parent a generation later) are not immune to the excitement that descends upon the College as Freshers become acquainted with their new home.

This year, more than 185 new students (the largest cohort in the College’s history) participated in this Welcome Week ritual, which was marked by hundreds of memorable moments, from the amusing sight of alarmingly sweaty Mentors pretending that the fridge they had just carried up three flights of stairs ‘isn’t as heavy as it looks’ to the broad grins of new students who ‘snagged a pretty big room’. It is difficult to capture the mood more aptly than by quoting the College Chaplain’s welcome address: ‘the vibes are good,’ he observed.

And in the week that followed, the vibes remained good – great, in fact. Freshers were treated to a festival of parties, information sessions, athletic challenges, support sessions, intercollegiate events, meet-and-greets, and so on. Each activity formed part of what the Principal described, in his Welcome Week Address, as Andrew’s fulfilling its ‘responsibility to bring its new residents into the embrace of the College community’. Each interaction strengthened what will no doubt be a lifelong embrace.

Student Mentors, drawing upon the extensive training they had completed prior to the arrival of Freshers (more than 20 training modules, from first aid to mentor training) managed the logistical and other challenges exceptionally.

Though the events that transpired six weeks later were disappointing, the experience of Welcome Week and the following few weeks lingers fondly in the memories of participants, all of whom eagerly await the resumption of life on campus.

Will Cesta

Director (Education & Student Life)