By: Alex Quevillon
Algonquin held its first ever winter open house at the Woodroffe campus on Saturday, Jan. 19, introducing potential students to the campus and its various programs.
“The fall open house is meant to plant the seed,” said manager of student recruitment Anne Kalil. “We decided to have this in January because there are still a lot of people who are undecided. We wanted to offer students another opportunity to come and tour the campus.”
Students as far as Orangeville, Belleville and Kingston came to Ottawa for Algonquin’s open house, while secondary schools within Ottawa also encouraged their students to attend.
Aidean Lee, a grade 11 student from Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School, is considering business programs at Algonquin, Carleton University and University of Ottawa, and said he appreciates college’s effort to recruit new students.
“It’s still early, but I like Algonquin’s programs, and that we can come and check out the school,” he said. “I didn’t get this from either of the universities.”
Students were encouraged to come through the Robert C. Gillett Student Commons Building where a number of school representatives and current students were set up to promote on-campus services.
Throughout the school, coordinators met with students interested in their programs. Across the street, residence was open for a tour.
Claudee Galipeau, a recruiter from the Pembroke campus, and Andrew Edmondson, the Perth campus’ marketing officer, were in attendance on behalf of their respective campuses. They encouraged students to come out to their own open house events on March 9 in Pembroke and April 10 in Perth.
More than 800 students signed up for Saturday’s open house. Algonquin staff were worried early on that the snowy weather would keep students at home, but were pleased at the end of the day with the turnout.
“We had a few hundred people come out,” Kalil said. “We’re definitely convinced that this event can work in the winter. Today was fantastic.”
With the success of the inaugural winter open house, look for it to be a common occurrence in future years.