Have you ever thought, “Hey, I don’t really like the way the College ran this event” or “I wish the College did a better job helping first year students get settled?” Me, too.

Well, students of Douglas, I recently had the opportunity to attend a focus group, where a bunch of students had the chance to let their voice be heard in hopes of improving student life at the College. The College invited participation from students in every program to ensure that many different opinions could be heard. The focus group was facilitated by Deans from various faculties and the Registrar of Douglas College, with the goal of learning how they can better engage first year students.

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Yall know what it is. Come and support your Douglas college student engagement team as they talk about focus groups relating how the school can help students. They doing it for yall! #douglascollege #douglascollegeroyals #douglascollegenewwestminster #coquitlam #davidlamcampus #studentengagement #lifeatdc #focus #motivated #studentsmatter

A post shared by Douglas College Student Life (@studentlifedc) on Jan 21, 2016 at 10:11am PST

The focus group was an open conversation; the facilitators asked questions and there were no right or wrong answers, they just wanted to know our opinions. The facilitators were taking notes and carefully answering students’ questions. They were very patient and attentive, which gave me the impression that they really cared. Topics ranged from how the College could advertise better for events to fixing all of the broken outlets in the College to exam schedules.

In my first year, I was never knew what was happening on campus, so I’m glad that the Deans and Registrar are looking to improve services. For all the new and old students out there, I hope you know that your opinions and concerns are very important to the College. A lot of students might have the mindset that someone has already voiced a concern about something and the College doesn’t care. After attending the focus group, I really feel like the College Registrar and Deans are totally on the same side as the students and they are working to make improvements on these issues and willing to hear us out on other ones.

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Some say fish don't sleep or some say they do but one thing for sure is that the Sharks at the Douglas college fishbowl is always grinding hard and active. Always working hard don't matter what time it is. #douglascollege #douglascollegeroyals #douglascollegenewwestminster #westminster #instagram #fishbowl #sharks #lifeatdc #socialmedia #instalike #college #grind #motivation #workhardplayhard

A post shared by Douglas College Student Life (@studentlifedc) on Jan 20, 2016 at 5:12pm PST

By listening to students about their first year experiences, Douglas is getting ready to set us up for success. The best part is that the results from the focus group will be gathered into a report that we will post about on Life at DC in a couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next, now that I know that the College wants to do the best it can to support students.