This is the second day of a month-long journey for the fifty-two Shads at the University of British Columbia. After a good night of solid sleep, we woke up and gathered at the dining room of the Totem Residence for a delicious breakfast. Filled with constant chatter and laughter, we are finally getting to know each other on a more personal level. The day then continued with brief introductions of our staff members and basic rules and guidelines of the residence.After lunch, we performed a “Secret Ceremony”. It was a truly stunning and powerful experience, but I’ll leave the future Shads to discover the details on their own!
We continued with our day with a recreational period, where we stepped outside, into the refreshing air of Vancouver. As we are still in the stage of getting to know each other, we started off by doing a name game, and continued with a relay (where people put their shoes in a pile and had to find their shoes, put them on and run back), finishing with the Octopus game.
After dinner, we entered the lounge and were introduced to Mr.Bruce Relland. He is a professor staying at our campus and explained one of our first major activities – Building a bridge with spaghetti and hot glue. The Shads were split into 13 groups, 4 people per group to build a bridge that meet certain requirements and can hold a 1kg water bottle for one minute. Each team had 2 hours to complete this project and the lightest bridge that matches the requirements wins. Of course, Mr.Relland taught us many engineering principles that would assist us with our bridge-building before we parted for our projects. We returned to the common room at 9pm to test out the bridges.
The new Shads are immersed in an amicable environment, one filled with cheering, laughter and amusement. We’ve been in the campus for less than 48 hours, but we can truly feel the welcoming atmosphere created by the staff and our enthusiastic participants; we are slowly creating unforgettable memories, while forming everlasting bonds of friendship.
Stay updated! Sincerely yours,
Niki Shi, Shad Valley University of British Columbia 2011
Hometown: Markham, ON
