Welcome Week not so welcoming?

Last week, as they returned to Kwantlen campuses for the fall semester, the KSA was busy welcoming new and returning students to school through a host of events at all four campuses.

However, not all of the students were feeling the love.

At each campus, the KSA had set up of free food booths, information tables, and activities for students to participate in, including a concert by Karl Wolf at Cram Jam 2010 in Surrey. Some students, such as Jenna Robson, felt that most of the events seemed to be concentrated in Surrey.

“I didn’t really notice anything here for Welcome Week,” said Robson, a first-year student at the Langley campus. “It seems like all the real stuff, like Cram Jam, happens in Surrey and it’s hard to get there between classes and work.”

Rachelle Tomm, also a first-year student, had a similar opinion about Richmond campus activities.

“I didn’t really actually participate. I looked outside and saw people jumping and stuff but I didn’t really know what it was for. I didn’t know it was part of welcome week so I just went on to my classes.”

But Tomm still enjoyed the events at Cram Jam.

“I went to the Karl Wolf concert in Surrey and loved it. His music is awesome, and plus it wasn’t too too busy so I got to go really close to the stage. I just wish the Richmond campus could have that same fun energy as Surrey did.”

Related: Welcome Week in photos.

No student clubs at Langley, so Tubbs creates Sandwich Appreciation Club

Christopher Tubbs was a first-year university student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University when he discovered a lack of student life.

When he first asked the KSA about student clubs on the Langley campus, he was told there weren’t any. The majority of clubs were located on the Surrey and Richmond campuses and the majority of the clubs focus on academic programs and specific interests.

Tubbs was looking for something different: a way to meet new friends in a social environment. So he began the creation of the Sandwich Appreciation Club.

The club, which states in it constitution that it will “unite sandwich lovers beneath a common banner so that they may be provided with peace, order, and good carbs,” has over 60 members, and according to Tubbs, is still the only club on the Langley Campus.

According to the Kwantlen website, the Sandwich Appreciation Club was created to “appreciate the sandwich in its many forms with its many ingredients, including wraps, to promote public awareness and understanding of sandwich appreciation and to encourage sandwich-orientated discussion, debate, and activity.”

Tubbs said that the club’s title is all in good humor, and that the main objection is to get students together for a good time.

“The Sandwich Appreciation Club is a casual thing and we are more than happy to poke fun at ourselves,” said Tubbs.

While there are no other funnily-named student groups located at Kwantlen, there appears to be a trend of students wanting to created social clubs.

Simon Fraser University has both the Bubble Blowing club, created to “spread happiness around campus,” and the “Beard and M(o)ustache Fellowship,” which claims to “promote understanding of hairy people, and to fight discrimination against bearded men and woman”.

The University of British Columbia has both the “Radical Beer Faction” and the “Peace and Love Club.”

While Tubbs has not yet arranged his club’s first meeting of the year, he said the hopes student club would have all kinds of group-hangouts and activities throughout the year.