THUNDER BAY — Tuesday's orientation at Confederation College held many firsts for students and staff as a new school year begins.
As the school's new president, Michelle Salo is excited for classes to start.
"It's a bit surreal, but it's very exciting, especially with all this energy. It makes you enthusiastic for the job."
Salo said orientation is a chance for new and returning students to meet classmates and professors and become more familiar with the college.
She said there is no wait list for students looking for on-campus housing. In fact, student enrolment is down compared to last year, mostly on the international side.
"We've seen the impact of the policy changes that happened in January and how it's impacting Canada's reputation in our international market. So every college, and I believe probably universities, are seeing a decline as well. But overall, our numbers are just around just under 3,500 students for the fall, which is a pretty good target."
Salo said the school is looking at other alternative sources of revenue.
"[We're] working through partnerships, trying to look at whether we can offer some micro-credentials, workforce development.
"We're doing program review and we'll be undertaking an efficiency review as part of the ministry funding that we received to kind of help offset the impact this year."
Aaron Skillen is the college's vice-president of academics.
"It's a really important part for them in meeting their program coordinator, maybe some other faculties, certainly their classmates, finding out more details about their program and seeing some of those physical spaces that they're going to learn in this year," Skillen said.
The school has also opened a new program this year, pharmacy tech.
For the new program, which is almost full at close to 30 students, Confederation College recently renovated spaces to create lab areas for students.
Adriana Baez is an international student who is happy to help incoming students as student union's director of wellness and social events.
"Something really important for me is to learn how to share experiences," she said when asked what she would like to pass on to first-year students.
