I remember getting on my knees and begging my mum and playschool teacher when I overheard them discussing plans for me to attend kindergarten the following year.
Change is scary. Always was for me.
When I moved on to kindergarten. When I moved on to primary school. Then, secondary. And now, university.
You know there's nothing to be afraid of. You tell yourself that.
But your body doesn't listen. You heart rate skyrockets, you hear weird grumbling sounds from your tracts. Your hands get all clammy.
Uncertainty can certainly make us anxious.
We don't know what to expect.
It keeps us hanging. It keeps us guessing.
Thankfully for us, there are people and special programs that help us with our transitions.
Isn't that why every school, uni or workplace has an orientation program for newcomers?
Sometimes, they're done well. Sometimes, you constantly question the way the program is conducted.
We've all been there.
For my transition to uni, I was thankful enough to be accepted into UniSkills - a first-year transitory program at UWA.
The university goes out of its way to host a whole week of activities for orientation. All students are also assigned to a mentor.
And yet, I feel that this is one of those times where I tell myself "this really isn't effective".
UniSkills was, however, incredibly useful to me.
The program is open to anyone who's facing difficulty transitioning into life at uni.
International students, regional students, mature-aged students, you name it!
The first event I attended was a pre-orientation camp at uni.
That was extremely daunting. I didn't know anyone.
But, I walked away having loads of fun (mostly 'cause we got to stay at the uni colleges for free).
Most of the people I've met and my closest friends came from that program.
They host monthly events for members to meet up; and face it, who can ever say no to free cheesy toasties!
And even today (I'm halfway through my second year), I still run into people who've done the program.
Naturally, the program lets go of students when they're done with their first year.
An opportunity is given to any/all students who apply to volunteer for the program.
I applied, obviously. The pre-orientation was really fun and it's literally my only chance to stay over at the college (did I tell you they had an ice-cream machine at the cafeteria!?).
So yes, I wanted to retain membership for personal and altruistic reasons.
Very unfortunately, I wasn't able to enrol myself for the program this year because I wasn't in the country at the time of the camp.
I submitted an application as a general volunteer, hoping for the chance to try again next year.
I never got a reply...
I had a friend who got to attend the camp as a volunteer.
So in a way, I could still find out "what the hell was going on" and "what happened to my application".
As expected, everyone had fun at the camp.
And then, everything went quiet.
There was an (unusually long) period of inactivity.
All of a sudden, the news was out. UniSkills is history.
That came out out of nowhere.
The volunteers were invited to a lunch and that was it.
The students/members were not informed of this.
I was
Remember that lunch? It wasn't a lunch. It was a riot.
No one was happy about this.
Because of my connections, I managed to get my hands on some rather 'juicy' information.
It pains me to see one of the few useful transition programs get axed by the uni.
It's sad to think that I'll never go back to that camp.
I'll never get my own college bedroom again.
I won't get to stuff my face with yummy college food and play with that ice-cream machine anymore.
As expected, only volunteers know of the program's cancellation.
Students were kept in the dark.
Those who applied to volunteer for anything other than the camp were not entertained. That includes me, of course.
First-year students who got into the program this year will probably be ignored for the rest of the year.
Everything regarding the program was just put on a bus.
The application forms are still open. UniSkills is still the go-to transitionary program on orientation booklets. No announcements were made about the program.
It frustrates me. How can they just turn such a successful and influential program off?
The worst part?
Should the program reopen, my application is likely to have been trashed along with others.
Only the volunteers at the time of the program's closure will be notified.
Even if they come back next year, I still won't be able to eat from that ice-cream machine.
With all this chaos was happening, I was still eager to help out.
If I couldn't help out in the (nonexistent) UniSkills, I'll just have to make due with something else.
So I applied for the UniMentor program.
UniMentor allocates a student to several first-years during orientation to help with transition.
Needless to say, it wasn't very helpful.
Either the mentors were poorly trained and just not interested;
or the amount of students allocated to a single mentor made it unfeasible to feel included.
There was just no room for interactions.
Most people don't actually use the program. People meet their mentor during orientation and that's it.
They don't reply to the mentor's emails. They don't need the mentor anymore.
What a waste of resources!
And yet, when I went for my interview, I was informed that they had more funds and resources to work with now.
Hmmm, I wonder where those "funds" came from?
It is understandable that the program is trying to improve itself, but I am just acting bitter.
I do not hate other programs. I do not hate the student service department.
I am merely whining around like a 13-year old who can't get what he wants.
I pay my respects to the program.
And if it does come back one day, I hope I can still be a part of it.
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| Figure 1. Throwback to last year's orientation week. It was the last day. After (foolishly) joining tons of clubs, we sat down on Oak Lawn to relax. Enjoyed several free 'popsicle' sticks while enjoying a live band performance. And that's when I told myself 'Hey, maybe uni wouldn't be so bad after all!'. All thanks to UniSkills, of course. It all started there. |
Listening to Fine By Me - Andy Grammer
Loyalty,
TK
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