The 2021 Pathway Opportunity Programme launched last week with its annual Welcome & Orientation Event. Due to the ongoing restrictions around the Covid-19 pandemic, the event took place online on Canvas, our virtual learning environment.

Over the course of five days, the Pathway team delivered 10 sessions to the 10 different pathways on the programme. Outreach Officer Ted Jensen and Outreach Assistant Whitney McAdam lead each daily session, with the support of Graduate Interns Emily Brumskill and Clodagh McMeel. Together, they successfully welcomed almost 250 students onto the Pathway programme.

The Welcome and Orientation Event included a variety of activities for the students. After being introduced to the Pathway Team, the students got the opportunity to meet one another for the first time when they were divided up into small groups for a quiz, led by our student assistants and academic guides.

The students were then brought around Queen’s campus - virtually! - by Ted and Whitney and got to see some of the highlights of our beautiful campus, such as the C.S. Lewis reading room and the PEC. Before their final activity, the students also had a chance to explore the Queen’s campus virtually themselves.

The Pathway academics were then welcomed as they introduced themselves to their students, and told them a bit more about what studying at Queen’s and on the Pathway Programme is like. This year, we introduced two new pathways - Pharmacy and Psychology - and we were very excited hearing about what the students will be getting up to over the next few months.

Finally, the student assistants and academic guides lead the students on a scavenger hunt around their houses, tasking the students with finding items such as a toothbrush, a yLink card, and even a sibling!

Both students and staff had a great time at the Welcome and Orientation Event. It was a very valuable first event, and has the Pathway Team and the students very much looking forward to this year’s programme!