Finding Connection at University
Enhance your UAlberta Arts experience by sharing it with others!
University is all about connection. Whether it has to do with organizing a complicated research project, pushing for important social change, or having people to share your university experience with, every aspect of your UAlberta journey is made better by sharing it with others.
After a few years of being physically disconnected from campus life we understand how hard it might be to feel connected to the UAlberta community. Although we’re still navigating the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic together, we’re hoping that you’re all able to find new and exciting ways to (re)connect with the people surrounding you here at the University of Alberta this year and make friendships that will last a lifetime.
Become a Student Representative
Student representation is one of the most exciting and self-driven ways you can spend your time as a University of Alberta student, and the limits of what you can accomplish match your willingness to connect with others. Any student can become a student representative as long as they have the support of their peers! Before jumping into the world of student representation though, consider this: what are you really passionate about?
If you know what you’re passionate about, certain opportunities will feel much more approachable than others and help you decide where to focus your energy. Not everyone wants to be focused on academic policy, but there definitely will be some people who find that work extremely compelling. From university-wide academic advocacy as part of the General Faculties Council, to Faculty-level student representation as part of groups like OASIS, to helping your department association explore new ways to represent students in your degree program, there are a TON of great options that you can choose.
Student representative associations usually host an election at least once each academic year, usually in February or March. Each year the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU) also hosts elections for their Council and Executive teams during the Winter Term, in which any student can run for a 1-year term. The Faculty of Arts has several seats on UASU Council AND General Faculties Council that need to be filled each year during these elections, and any currently enrolled Arts student can start a campaign and get involved!
Join UAlberta Student Groups
This is usually the first place we’ll send new University of Alberta students to when they have questions about getting involved, making new friends, or learning new non-academic skills during their degree.
With 400+ unique student groups across all of the University of Alberta’s campuses, if you have an interest/hobby/passion that you want to share with others there’s a gigantic chance that there’s already a group for that! Even if there isn’t… you can just start your own!
Student groups can cover basically any topic as long as it follows the UAlberta Code of Student Behaviour and other students are interested in getting involved. The best way to find student groups that you might love, or search by topic, is to head over to BearsDen. Search by categories, key terms, and learn all about groups there!
Attend Campus Events
After a few years of remote learning and a completely unprecedented public health situation, we can’t blame anyone who’s itching to get involved in in-person events here at the University of Alberta. They’re an amazing way to meet new people, make the most of your time after class on campus, and have some fun with the people in your community!
“That all sounds great, random guy, but how do I even know which events are going on around here?” I’m so glad you asked!
Although there isn’t a single, completely reliable tool for getting details about every single event happening at the University of Alberta, there are a few great options that work well together. Here’s a few that we commonly rely on to get details about events as they come up:
- The BearsDen event-finder tool.
- The Eventbrite page for all events happening in the University area.
- The UASU Events website.
- This registry of Career Centre events.
- The weekly Arts Student Newsletter sent by our team! 😎
Take Opportunities as They Come
Besides some of the more obvious ways to connect with your peers and other members of the UAlberta communality listed above, there are countless approaches to connection that you can take which can come from the most unexpected places.
People always ask how many years their Arts degree should take to complete, and the answer is always “as long as you need to accomplish what’s important to you”. You can graduate in 4 years by diving deep into your studies and taking extracurricular opportunities in the summer, graduate in 5 because you wanted to squeeze a certificate into your degree that you didn’t know existed until third year, graduate in 6 while maintaining a part-time job and volunteering with campus clubs, or anything else in-between. The flexibility is where a lot of the fun comes from, and can also lead you to new experiences that will change your outlook on your chosen degree path, future careers, and your relationships as a whole.
During my first year in UAlberta Arts a friend randomly sent me a volunteering opportunity that they thought I would be interested in, and although I thought it was a bit outside of my immediate interests at the time, I decided to give it a try! Little did I know then that I would end up staying with that volunteer group for 4 years, would meet my future wife there, would gain exciting skills and career paths by out trying new things, and would manage to do a lot of good for Edmontonian youth with my time and energy along the way. I never would have known what this opportunity held for me if I didn’t take a leap of faith and try something totally outside of my comfort zone, and I would encourage anyone reading this article to trust themselves enough to grab onto those “ehhh, IDK” opportunities when you feel comfortable doing so.
Here are a few different places to start finding volunteer opportunities specifically around the University of Alberta:
Be a Connector
You might think this one is cheating, but we’re gonna put it here anyways because it genuinely is an important addition to this list. Being a connector doesn’t necessarily have to mean getting involved in student governance, student groups, or even events here on campus. It’s about being a person who goes out of their way to connect with the people around them.
Introduce yourself to the people sitting next to you in your classes! Organize study groups, coffee meet-ups, and group chats! Be the person that brings others together, the worst that will ever happen is that some people turn you down. People make life long friendships, or relationships, just from being the first person to say hello, and you can do that for yourself and the people around you if you choose.
This article was written by Logan Bourdon, who serves as the Student Engagement and Outreach Specialist for the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Student Services. Logan graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alberta in 2020 and has spent the past 4 years working in student services, community engagement, and communications.
