This week’s blog post has been written by Eric Damer. Eric is a Research Associate on the UBC Centenary History Project, and co-author of No Ordinary Mike, a biography of Nobel Laureate Michael Smith.

School Spirit

I first attended UBC in the fall of 1983 after completing a year of general arts studies at a regional college. When I arrived, I was a bit overwhelmed: thanks to friends of friends, I found a decent basement suite about a twenty minute bus ride away, but Vancouver still seemed to me a big city. UBC was also big—I don’t think I had ever been to the campus before. Registration forced me to jostle with other students in line-ups to seize the proper computer card, dash between unfamiliar buildings, and grab snippets of information that might help me make sense of curriculum planning.

On several occasions supervising faculty told me “this isn’t what you want,” but offered no explanation or alternative. Registration was eventually a success; I enrolled in my chosen classes, and soon joined a couple of clubs that looked interesting, the French Club and the Fencing Club. Except for the fraternities, no one seemed to make much fuss over new students, so I felt a little like an intruder on someone else’s turf. I lasted one year at UBC before taking a year out from my studies and then completing my degree in Victoria. (more…)