Open letter on Frosh 2020

To the McGill community,

Frosh has long been a cornerstone of the McGill experience, allowing new students to meet their peers while participating in social activities. Like so much of our lives right now, Frosh 2020 has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges that this pandemic presents, we want to ensure that, like those who have come before them, incoming students still have an incredible Frosh experience. This year, Frosh will be conducted remotely, and although transitioning to an online environment can be difficult, our team is working hard to ensure a quality Frosh for new students.

Frosh as we know it at McGill has been designed specifically as an in-person, social activity. This means that many events usually run during Frosh may not be enjoyable or possible on an online platform. As coordinators, we are aware of these obstacles and are therefore opting to omit events such as Beach Day. We are working hard to develop and implement new and engaging activities that take into consideration students’ new realities. Despite these changes, our vision remains the same: To help incoming students have a fulfilling Frosh experience.

Our team sees the shift to a virtual Frosh as an opportunity to emphasize the values and principles that guide our work. As coordinators, we strongly believe in the positive influence of upper-year students and their ability to enrich and facilitate new students’ transition into university. This year, since new students are unable to physically meet their peers and develop a sense of community with the same ease afforded in person, Frosh will be vital to help new students make connections, foster social relationships, and interact with upper-year students. As many students’ first year of university is a huge change, the typical challenges that students experience in a normal year are only exacerbated by the current pandemic.

As a result, we are building a Frosh that we hope will lessen new students’ stress and help them thrive at McGill. New students will develop friendships with their peers and upper-year students. They will also learn about campus resources, opportunities for getting involved in student life, upper-year students’ favourite locations near campus and around Montreal, and tips for academic success. As always, we are striving to ensure that Frosh is a safe, inclusive environment for all students and, as such, we are collaborating with McGill staff, faculty, and administrators to create and implement a range of Frosh activities to help incoming students adjust to the new world of online social and learning platforms.

We have a lot of work to do in the coming months to make our vision a reality. We welcome your feedback and support as we continue to plan Frosh—please reach out to us through our faculty Frosh Facebook pages if you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns. In the meantime, we wish to remind the community about the values that make Frosh a success, and our unfaltering commitment to the health, safety, and wellbeing of new students. Together, these ideals remain close to heart.

To the community: Thank you for your trust and support; and, to the new students: We look forward to seeing you at Frosh 2020!

Sincerely,

Belanna Gans, Science Frosh Coordinator

Courtney Murdoch, Education Frosh Coordinator

Joella Reev, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Frosh Coordinator

You can keep up with what your faculty’s Frosh coordinators are up to throughout the summer by following their Facebook and/or Instagram pages below:

Arts:

https://www.facebook.com/mcgillartsfrosh/

https://www.instagram.com/artsfrosh/

Arts & Science:

https://www.facebook.com/ArtSciOrientationWeek/

https://www.instagram.com/mcgill_artsci_frosh/