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Above and below: York students online
Donna Cope in York's Office of Admissions, Recruitment & Marketing, sent the following story to YFile.
Wasn’t that a party! Nearly 2,000 people, and no one even had to clean up.
Hosts from York Admissions, York’s nine undergraduate faculties, Housing, Financial Services, Alumni Services and the Career Centre welcomed more than 1,900 newly admitted students to their first-ever E-Party, held on April 24, April 26 and April 28.
From the online chats to the call-in radio show at CHRY to screensaver downloads and trivia gaming, students seemed to enjoy every minute of the three-day electronic extravaganza. E-Partiers logged on from all across Canada as well as from far-away places such as Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, France, Tanzania, Cambodia, Benin, Bermuda and Pakistan.
Here are some of their e-chat comments:
- I really value this E-Party.... It’s an excellent idea!
- This E-Party is a perfect example of how much York cares. You make new students feel involved and part of university already.
- Whoever thought of this is a genius!
- You guys know everything!
- Alright! You’ve helped me decide – I’m going to accept my offer from York right now.
On Monday, true hypertaskers listened to the call-in show simulcast online through CHRY’s Web site while chatting online with us, and on Wednesday, many students tuned in to the Leafs hockey game while asking questions about advising appointments, residence life, class size, how to contact a professor, commuting to York and interuniversity sport. York Trivia gamers dropped into several of the 17 chat rooms and offered these e-opinions:
- I’ve just played Trivia three times and haven’t won once! There’s a lot to learn about York.
- Love the game but the crowd sounds have gotta go.
- This York trivia game is neat but it’d be better with prizes.
More than 700 students from 20 countries e-conversed with admission professionals, professors, current York students, York alumni and staff from student service areas such as Housing, Financial Services and the Career Centre.
CHRY hosts Chris Penrose and Adele Ambrose made sure the radio show went smoothly for the students who called in with questions ably answered by our radio-response team:
- Peter Timmerman, professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies
- Brian Poser, learning skills counsellor, Counselling & Development Centre
- Lesley Higgins, professor, Department of English, Faculty of Arts
- Keri Saltzman, fourth-year specialized honours, Communication Studies, Faculty of Arts
- Amar Shah, first-year environmental science, Faculty of Pure & Applied Science; active in York is U
The Freeze Frame student diaries and Wide World of York photo journals were so popular that they’ll find a permanent home on the Admissions Web site soon.
Admissions is excited by the potential of this inaugural electronic event. The combination of innovative technology and old-fashioned "personal touch" scored big with the students. By using technology that the audience was most comfortable with, York Admissions showed a willingness to reach out in ways few other universities have done. And, if the E-Party guests are any indication, the cooperative effort made "Yorkies" of every one!