Welcome Week at Kent School of Architecture (KSA) was, as always, a bustling week for Stage 1 students to embrace this new chapter in their lives. During the All School Welcome session on Monday morning at 11.00, the Stage 1 students were introduced to all members of staff, and different areas of the university including Kent Union, SLAS, Templeman Library, KASA (Kent Architectural Student Association) & Student Health & Wellbeing.
Students were then taken into their Studio A for an introductory session with Stage 1 Co-ordinator, Chris Gardner. During this session, students were asked to pin a name tag onto a map of the world / map of England which produced a very interesting visual which is on display on their Studio A noticeboard.
All students were also handed an a Welcome Pack created by KSA’s Student Success (EDI) Project team which consisted of an events guide containing the Welcome Week schedule, the ‘A is for Architecture’ book produced by former MArch student Jasmine Davey, and current PhD student James Shaw, and a KSA branded wooden USB containing information about KASA (Kent Architectural Student Association), as well as KASA’S Welcome Week Timetable, previous End of Year catalogues as well as the Student Success (EDI) Project Autumn Planner 2015 which highlighted important dates, field trips, reading weeks, events going on in the school as well as critical deadlines.
As part of the Student Success (EDI) Project, we also hosted a marquee event on the Tuesday of Welcome Week for all Stage 1 students in the form of a Design Charrette. The event was a success (despite the awful weather!) whereby students split into groups and created a ‘Tower in an hour’. Resident fine artist Patrick Crouch, along with members of Stage 5 including the KASA president were there to lend a helping hand and advise throughout the process, as well as acting as a crit panel whereby the students had to present their finished towers to their peers also.
