A web series following 10 new Memorial University students over an academic year is helping to bring the institution to life for prospective and current students.
Each episode of The New Class features interviews with cast members as they discuss an aspect of their lives as students – living in residence, going to the campus gym, visiting a new building. In episode three, Chris Jerome, a 24-year-old MBA student from Bangalore, gives a tour of the room she rents before sharing her concerns about the impending St. John’s winter: “I don’t know if I’m prepared enough. I bought a couple of jackets and they told me it would be good for the snow, but it remains untested.”
Ms. Jerome says that by offering snippets of life abroad to prospective international students, she hopes to answer the kinds of questions she struggled with as she decided where to apply. “At the end of the day, every university has a really good website boasting about the things they’re doing. You know how true it is only if you get student testimonials. I’d look at Facebook pages or unofficial sources, and I’d try to contact random students that I found,” she says. “I thought it [the series] would be a good chance to convey my experience.”
Laura Barron, communications coordinator in the office of the deputy provost, students, says she created the 16-episode documentary style series for video-hungry students looking for a real picture of the institution. “We’re trying to listen to the students, what they’re interested in and what they want to talk about.”
Check out all of the episodes here.