As new students begin to arrive at the University of Prince Edward Island for the school year, they’re being met with a more inclusive welcome.

The university’s New Student Orientation (NSO) co-ordinators for 2024 are both international students, bringing with them a fresh perspective on the first few days of life at a post-secondary institute.

“NSO is such a lively environment. It gives you… the real experience that, ‘OK, I am in university now, this is not high school anymore,'” said Diya Bubna, a third-year business student from India and one of this year’s co-ordinators.

“There’s definitely a rush of so many feelings — but definitely good feelings and no bad feelings at all.”

Around 700 new students signed up for NSO activities at the University of Prince Edward Island this year. (Mitch Cormier/CBC)

Bubna and fourth-year student Obed Oluwakoya, who’s from Nigeria, spent the whole summer planning events for this year’s NSO, which continues throughout the week. The schedule includes campus tours, information sessions for parents, food, sporting events, and karaoke and toga nights.

Oluwakoya said he met a diverse group of friends when he first arrived at UPEI, and that support system helped him get more comfortable with life in a new country.

“We stuck together, we helped each other, went through those struggles together, so just being able to replicate that for people, help them find those experiences — NSO’s a lot about building connections,” he said.

“We’re trying to make sure they have ample opportunity to find their way to us and to the events we planned. They’re all specially designed to give them the best value, to give them the best experience, and we just hope they have the best time.”

‘A whole different environment’

About 700 students signed up for NSO this year, the co-ordinators said. That includes new high school grads from both Island schools and other Canadian provinces as well as new international students.

“It’s a whole different country, a whole different environment,” Bubna said.

“Definitely sometimes we can tell that they’re anxious and they’re nervous, which is very normal because we have been there in the same boat. So looking at that, we can actually cater to them very well and say that it’s OK to be nervous, that’s why NSO is happening, for you to get [familiar] with campus and everything that you need to know.”

Volunteers with the NSO committee took training through the university’s new diversity, equity and inclusion office to help make everyone feel more welcome.

That’s important, said Oluwakoya, because regardless of where they lived before coming to UPEI, the common denominator is that they’re all students starting at a new school.

“There is diversity in terms of race, in terms of culture, but there’s also diversity in other ways — there’s diversity in terms of interests, in terms of programs people take, in terms of the needs people have,” he said.

“And so we try to take all those into consideration when we’re planning events, when we’re relating with students.”