Future Students

Reprinted with permission from The Discourse

Vancouver Island University (VIU) attracts international students from around the world and from various different climates. For Lurana McClure Rodriguez, who grew up in Puerto Rico, Vancouver Island’s environment felt like the closest home away from home. Wanting to study something design and arts-related, interior design gave her a wide range of opportunities to learn and specialize in. Now, at the end of her degree, Rodriguez finds that her final grades aren’t the greatest achievement.

The power of our hearts and minds can uplift us and help us create the life we want, Noelle Hanuse (Wuikinuxwv), a Wellness Advisor with VIU’s Office of Indigenous Education and Engagement. She has created a series of videos around this theme to help Indigenous students navigate their lives and their post-secondary goals in a healthy way.

“I hope students will understand how our thoughts are linked to our feelings and subsequent behaviours and actions, and how changing their thoughts and actions will help them feel better and lift their spirits,” she says. 

“If you have an academic goal you want to achieve, we’ll get you there.”

That’s the simple and straightforward message from Jean Maltesen, Dean of Academic and Career Preparation, for those who enroll in VIU’s Adult Basic Education (ABE) Program.

And while the message may be simple enough, there are numerous ways it can be tailored to help individual students pursue their educational journey.

But who is ABE for? What are some common misconceptions? And what are the benefits of considering ABE in the first place?

We are gearing up to welcome you back to campus this fall and have lots of activities planned to help orient you to university life, from RockVIU new student orientation, to summer warm-up tours, to resources you can check out in advance to help prepare you for the fall semester. Read on to find out more!

Now that I am back in Germany, I already miss Canada, VIU, my friends there and, yes, even the online classes. Prior to my departure, doubts crept into my mind about if I should go abroad during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Would the experience be worth it, would it pay off both personally and academically, is it ethically acceptable? Looking back now, I would have loved to tell myself how great my spring semester at VIU would prove to be.

Lindsay Folland wasn't supposed to make it this far.

“When I was a child I was given a formal diagnosis that I would never be beyond an elementary school level,” she says. “I was told I am too socially impaired to have any meaningful relationships and I would need 24-7 support to bathe, dress, and eat.”

However, the people who told her these things, she says, were “thankfully and obviously not psychic."

We are thrilled to share that on Thursday, July 1, 2021, the province moves intoStep 3 of the BC Restart Plan. This has implications for VIU health and safety protocols.

“When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.” – Zig Ziglar