I would now like to introduce the deputy vice-chancellor and principal of the Okanagan campus,
Professor Deborah Buszard.
Thank you.
And wooo! Welcome.
It's a great day to see you all here. How many are really glad you're not back to school?
Yes!
You have come to, as Santa said, one of the world's top twenty-five universities and you know,
there's a big difference between school and university.
And I look out and Santa's mentioned that you come from around the world or just from around the corner.
We welcome you whether you come fom Kelowna or from Kenya, wherever you are around the world
you are most welcome.
You come from very different schools. Some of you have been homeschooled - that's great.
Some of you were sent away to school and travelled the world, perhaps going to different kinds of schools,
maybe as your parents moved around the world.
And some of you may come from small communities,
where this whole would probably take
everyone that you know in your community
and leave some room left over.
So, we are a melting pot here and we are not a
school. We're a university. And you may
say: "Well so what's the difference? "
Like you know, elementary, secondary,
post-secondary. The answer is when you're
in school the teachers control the knowledge.
Here we actually create
knowledge as well as sharing it and we
don't own it, I'm looking at my academic
colleagues here. None of us own the
knowledge, we are all part of building it.
And that, as of today, includes you.
You are a part of that. Now that may be a
little scary, because as Santa says your
place here comes with responsibilities.
Responsibilities to make the world a better place and I
have absolutely no doubt that you will
go on and make us incredibly proud as
you move forward through this university
and then on to wherever you may go.
But it's an exciting place to be
because we don't have the boundaries of
who owns the knowledge and who's sitting
in a chair to receive it.
That's not how this is going to work.
You are going to be doing a lot of the heavy
lifting and you're not going to be doing
it on your own either, because look around.
You are surrounded by other
incredibly talented people, very much
like you but also amazingly different.
And there's so much to discover about
the community that's here. And Santa's
mentioned diversity and the wonderful
opportunities that that creates for us.
And I too want you to be encouraged to
look around and see that there are
people who come from very different
experiences, very different backgrounds, very different
countries, different educational systems, and you're going to be in the same classroom and you'll be
listening to a lot of lectures in your
first year, that's for sure. But you'll
also be working as groups, you'll have
laboratory sessions, you'll have classes
where you decode what the crazy
professor at the front of the room said
to you the hour earlier, you'll be
talking over coffee and late at night in
your rooms about what the heck that
assignment means. And the good news is
that we are all smarter than any one of
us. We have to all work together and
that's just as true for me and Santa and
our colleagues who are tasked with
leading this great institution it's just
as true for us today as it is for you
starting off in your very first class.
You are not on your own.
You're not on your own with your fellow students.
They may be different, they'll have different
perspectives that's what we all benefit from.
The professors are here. The faculty,
the staff, student services, there are so
many pieces that will add up to your experience.
But remember Tuum Est.
It is up to you.
Not you necessarily as an individual all the time but to you and us collectively.
I wish you all a fabulous first day here at Create and then a wonderful year.
Now you'll see me on campus - say hi.
I meet with your student union leadership regularly and I'm open to meeting with you, my door is open.
I might be busy but I'm always pleased to see you.
So welcome once again to UBC, have a fabulous first year, and Tuum Est. It's up to you.
Thanks.