By: Wade Hemsworth
Originally published in the Hamilton Spectator
McMaster students who need help getting more out of their university experience, from better grades and job opportunities to less debt and lower stress, will have a common starting point when they start school next month.
Thousands of students, and even some of their parents, are expected to use the university’s new Student Success Centre, designed as an accessible hub for a broad suite of student services that were previously offered separately.
The centre, still under construction, is now open in Gilmour Hall, just down from the registrar’s office and up a short set of stairs from the student centre next door, and with the start of the school year will be open until 7:00 p.m. Monday to Thursday.
Staff and volunteers will be on hand to help students get the most from their experience at McMaster, by helping them directly at the centre or guiding them to help for problems with finances, academic issues and mental health.
It will also help them find the most meaningful volunteer work and to improve their chances of finding satisfying careers after graduating.
The centre has a classroom for workshops on such topics as effective studying and managing money.
Associate vice-president and dean of students Phil Wood said he had recognized a gap that he hopes the new centre will now fill by offering a one-stop solution for students who often need more than one kind of help.
It’s not that students need more help today than in the past, he explained, but that students have always needed help and not had an easy time finding it.
