Starting an intense business program at a new school with more than 600 high achieving, determined, and intelligent peers can be intimidating.
To make the transition a bit easier for the incoming HBA Class of 2017, a team of second-year HBA students organized and executed the annual Ivey O-Week, a week of on- and off-campus activities, educational Ivey sessions, and various after-hours social nights.
O-Week begins!
O-Week officially kicked off on Friday, September 5 in the same way our HBA1s start their mornings: with a balanced breakfast.
The annual breakfast Opening Gala was held at the London Convention Centre and featured introductions from Dean Bob Kennedy, HBA Program Director Mary Gillett, Head Guru Marcus Gverzdys, and HBA Association President Craig Martin.
The event’s keynote speaker was Jannalee Anderson, HBA ’94 and MBA ’99, Vice President of Business Development at Opportunity International Canada. She told the incoming class that there isn’t just one mold for an HBA student and encouraged them to follow their passions.
“Life is too short to not do what you’re good at and what you love,” she told the class.
Fair competition
Despite the extreme heat warnings and foreboding clouds in the sky, HBA1s spent their Saturday outdoors competing with their sections at Ivey Fair, sponsored by Polaris Transportation Group.
Sections duked it out in a variety of games, including the gym class classic dodgeball, tug-of-war, and bubble soccer.
“Ivey Fair was my favourite memory from my O-Week,” Aqsa Mian, Section 5 Executive Guru said. “It was a great way to bond with the Gurus and section mates. And really, there’s nothing like a little friendly competition to get Ivey kids going.”
Who’s got talent?
Sunday marked the second annual Ivey Palooza, where students played carnival games in Ivey’s Love Family Quadrangle, snacked on cotton candy and Chil’s frozen yogurt, and participated in a talent show.
Representatives from Info-Tech Research Group, one of the event’s sponsors along with McLean & Company, came up with some team-building activities for the students, including a highly intense game of Rock Paper Scissors Extreme.
By this point, HBA1 students had only known each other for three short days, but judging by the “Ivey’s Got Talent” portion of the night, you would never know. Students were comfortable getting up on stage, and they were met with the utmost support from their classmates.
"Becoming friends with so many strangers, who would soon become my best friends and family – that was my favourite memory from my HBA1 O-Week last year,” Head Guru Gverzdys said.
Cracking open the first case
After the hectic weekend of O-Week activities, HBA1s shifted gears on Monday morning for Ivey Bootcamp, sponsored by Unilever, where they spent the day learning about academic expectations from the upper-year Gurus.
With the first day of regular classes around the corner, HBA1s could ease into the Ivey lifestyle, ask HBA2s questions about the upcoming year, and get comfortable in their new classrooms.
HBA Class of 2017 fun facts
- Born in 38 countries
- Speak 33 languages
- Came from 55 different programs before entering HBA
- 64% of the class held AEO status at Western
