Campus News
Celebrating 20 years of enriching students' lives
Wednesday April 25, 2007
Queen’s enrichment programs are now attracting high-school students from as far away as Bermuda and California for a memorable and varied sampling of university life.
The week-long E=Mc2 program, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this May, has lately been broadening its reach through the internet and discovering that its eclectic course offerings have great appeal, says Lise Alban, manager of the Enrichment Studies Unit.
Although other universities also offer high-school-level enrichment programs, most are specific to a certain faculty and subject area, such as science or the arts, she says.
E=Mc2 offers courses in everything from sport psychology and photography, to nano-technology and advanced business practices.
Some of the most popular courses include digital recording, robotics and pathology and molecular medicine.
“Because of the variety, it’s drawing students to the program, because they’re thinking, ‘Oh, I’m not going to have a lot of math geeks around me’”, says Ms. Alban.
But the program is not, as one might assume, to convince kids to enroll at Queen’s.
The university especially wants to encourage attendance by gifted and above-average students who may not be considering university due to financial reasons or because their home environment is not supportive of or accustomed to post-secondary education.
“It’s to encourage kids to consider university who haven’t thought of it before,” Ms. Alban says, adding these goals are in keeping with Queen’s stated commitment in its strategic plan to broaden student access, regardless of socio-economic status.
After 20 years of offering the program, things have now come full circle, and many of the Queen’s students hired to serve as residence supervisors and activity leaders are graduates of the program themselves.
Enrichment-unit staff work with school boards across Ontario to publicize the program. They encourage teachers to consider the students who may not be top of mind, and who may not have the best marks, but whom they sense have unfulfilled potential.
“We’re looking for kids who are showing that bright spark, and perhaps by being in this program, it will motivate them to consider university as an option even though that’s not the experience at home,” says Ms. Alban.
To read the full story, see page 5 of the April 23 Gazette.
