Montreal Gazette - McGill sends 'spirit' home

McGill University may be coming to a neighbourhood near you. The university's new Off-Campus Fellow Program is trying to reach out to the 3,000 new students each year who don't live in residence and improve their experience by bringing campus life right to their neighbourhood.

"Off-campus students are more disconnected so we wanted to bridge that gap," said Colleen Lewis, acting associate director of residence life at McGill. "We know that students do better when they feel supported and belong to a community." So the university launched a pilot project last year, which is in its first real year of operation now, to hire fellows in eight neighbourhoods and try to bring some of the camaraderie and spirit of residence life right to their doors.

"We found it's a great way to ease the transition into life at McGill," said Eli Freedman, co-ordinator of the program and a third-year student at McGill. "This way we have a presence in local neighbourhoods to help students who may not live near campus."