RyeSAC’s orientation activities look promising
By Heather McCall
Each year, around this time, the dis-spirited students of Ryerson push aside their apathy and take over Toronto to support a common cause: orientation.
Although the theme of the two-week event is “Club Rye…could you imagine a year?” (playing on the popular Club Med advertising slogan) it could just as well be “Something old and something new.” All the old favourite frosh festivities are back — like campus tours, theme nights at the Edge, and of course the infamous Parade and Picnic — but they’ve returned with a new face.
RyeSAC kicked off orientation last night with a grand opening of (campus pub) The Edge’s patio. The patio will be open all month, weather pending, where students can enjoy music and the freedom to smoke to their lungs’ content. A new weekly pool tournament will begin Tuesday nights starting next week, and pub night and Yuk Yuk’s comedy return to their old slots on Thursdays and Fridays, respectively.
In addition to the introductory campus tours during registration week, RyeSAC will provide guest speakers who will address topics on university life. The series of “lectures” is called University 101, and will take place at 10 a.m. from now until Friday.
But perhaps the biggest change to the orientation roster is with the 37th Annual Parade and Picnic, the culmination of Ryerson’s frosh week. Historically, the Picnic has featured a top Canadian band to headline the event, but this year RyeSAC enlisted three very musically diverse and interesting performers to do the honours.
Out of the 100 applicants they received, RyeSAC chose celtic rockers Uisce Beatha (pronounced Ish-ka-ba-ha), bhangra artists Punjabi by Nature, and the Swedish disco-glam ABBA cover band Bjorn Again to fill the bill. Donna MacNeil, v.p. administration of RyeSAC, says there were a lot of reasons for the change, but primarily it was to create more of a “party atmosphere.”
“You can go to R.P.M. anytime to see a concert… (The picnic) is so unique, it’s only one day out of the year,” she says. So they chose bands that the students could hear and enjoy without having to sit in front of the stage and watch. They also chose the bands to try and suit the tastes of Ryerson’s multicultural student body.
RyeSAC president Paul Cheevers expects at least 5,000 participants this year, an increase of about 1,500 from last year. The Parade and Picnic, he claims, is “the envy of all Ontario Universities” as far as frosh activities go, and he himself is eagerly anticipating it.
“Get drunk and let’s boogie!…not that I’m promoting drinking,” he smiles.
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