Changes are coming for this year’s Orientation Week.
The weeklong run of events sponsored by the Students’ Union and the Dinos features events welcoming first-year students to the University of Calgary. O-Week is generally concluded with a tailgate party at a football game hosted by the Dinos at McMahon stadium for incoming students.
However, according to SU vice-president student life Ben Cannon, this year’s conclusion will feature a concert at MacEwan Hall sponsored by the SU instead, with the Canadian indie-rock band Hollerado headlining.
“For the last few years, the Friday evening programming has been the kick-off which is through the Dinos football team and it’s been great. This year they still are having that event, but it’s been moved,” Cannon said.
Cannon talked about the concert which will take the kick-off’s place.
“It’s really exciting having the concert be headlined by Hollerado,” he said. “It will be free to all students. However, we are focusing on branding it towards first years as it is technically a part of Orientation Week.”
Cannon said members of the SU discussed what could replace kick-off and thought a concert would be best.
“From the get go, there were a lot of ideas batted around about what would be the big, cool thing to do regarding that Friday night for first years,” Cannon said. “It was decided that a concert would be the best way to go about it.”
According to Cannon, the Dinos will continue to have a strong presence during O-Week despite kick-off not being a part of it.
“The Dinos are going to be offering some kind of programming similar to what there used to be at the tailgate party but before the concert,” Cannon said. “This will include things like the bouncy castle and various games for students to engage in.”
Dinos assistant athletic director Ben Matchett said the game’s date change was incidental.
“We get our schedule from the league, and it just so happens that this year, the game has been scheduled for the following week,” Matchett said.
Matchett insisted that the rescheduling should be beneficial for the Dinos.
“In a way, this is a good thing because since upper years will be back on campus again, the entire student body will be available to attend the game,” Matchett said. “It just means that it won’t be the final kick-off for orientation week.”