On Friday 15 September, hundreds of students from the Foundation Studies program found themselves walking through snowflakes, as the Gateway building was transformed into a Winter Wonderland.
The party was held to welcome July Fast Track, August Main and August Comprehensive Extended (ACE) students and celebrate the end of a busy exam period.
Over 60 student volunteers from across different Foundation Studies intakes helped on the evening with a performance from the BOPA dance crew, a DJ throughout the night, karaoke in the auditorium, a ginger bread house, cookies and chips all part of the festivities.
Students also had the opportunity to experience ‘speed friending’, where new students would pair up with someone they had yet to meet and chat for one minute before talking to the next person.
Priyansh Parekh (February Main), from Dubai was one of the student volunteers, and came up with the concept of a Winter Wonderland.
Priyansh believes events such as Winter Wonderland are really important for the students as a way to unwind at the end of semester as well as building a sense of community during their time at Trinity.
‘It’s just important to have these things in between, we had the Global Pathway, the Brazilian Welcome Party, the Fair Dinkum Festival and we have all these things going on. It gives a sense of community, we’ve had so many volunteers sign up and everyone wants to be involved, even if their introverts or extroverts everyone has something to do,’ says Priyansh.
Thee Mei Yee (February Main), from Malaysia was another student volunteer at the event. It was the Brazilian Welcome Party in February that made Mei feel welcome at Trinity.
‘Events like this really warm you up to Trinity. For me, when they had the party in February, I was not sure if I should go or not, but after I went it made me think of Trinity in a different way, I think it makes me warm to Trinity,’ says Mei.
Pathways School Chaplain, Lisa Saunders Ahuja and 10 students from the Multicultural and Multi-faith Club helped plan the event. If you are interested in joining the Multicultural and Multi-faith Club please contact lsaunder@trinity.unimelb.edu.au
