Free soup, among other things, drew starving student to the Catholic college on the UBC campus

 

By Olivier Coutant

Special to The B.C. Catholic

If someone asked you to describe university in a few words, how would you respond? Would you mention enormous lecture halls, a campus you could get lost in, and deranged professors?

 

Would you be shocked if I told you that the first phrases that came to my mind included "tight-knit community," or "challenging yet supportive," or even "I get free soup on Wednesdays?"

 

All three of these descriptions - as well as many others - fit Corpus Christi College. It is the ideal place for anyone who wants a great start to their post-secondary career.

 

After I graduated from St. John Brebeuf Regional Secondary School in Abbotsford in 2011, my family and I moved from Chilliwack to Coquitlam.

 

We had been anticipating the move for approximately six months, so I knew I had the opportunity to go to a big-name university in Vancouver.

 

I believed I'd be attending UBC or SFU in the fall, complete with a scholarship that would carry me through my undergraduate education.

 

A year earlier, at the beginning of Grade 12, I had decided that I needed to begin applying to universities.

 

A friend of mine in first year suggested that since I was Catholic I should look into Corpus Christi College.

 

Corpus had sent some representatives to my high school before, but I felt that I needed to go to an official information night.

 

For lack of a better explanation, I fell in love with the college.

The prospect of small class sizes, a Catholic community, and the personal experience Corpus seemed to offer attracted me to the school.

I knew that if I chose to attend Corpus Christi my professors would know me as "Olivier" and not "Student number 10495919."

 

If you knew me in high school, you'd know that I excelled in sciences, and that now I'm headed towards medical school. You may ask then why I chose Corpus Christi, a Liberal Arts college.

 

Corpus offers much more than just liberal arts. This year I've had the opportunity to take math, biology, and physics, while studying language arts such as Spanish and English.

 

I've enjoyed both disciplines, and believe that for me, variety is the spice of course selection.

 

I currently plan to enter UBC in May as a second-year student in the Faculty of Science.

 

Corpus Christi has plans to develop its science department, so science students should explore the options available through Corpus Christi and take advantage of the benefits of a Catholic college.

 

I also like being involved in some of the extracurricular activities that both Corpus and UBC have to offer. I view Corpus Christi as a sort of "hub" for all things Catholic that exist at UBC.

 

For example, I see Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO) missionaries at daily Mass; I see faith study groups inside Plato's Cave (the student common room); and I've even had the misfortune of booking the chapel for music practice at the same time as the Korean Catholic Club.

 

On Wednesdays I play the guitar at Mass in the student-led band, and after Mass, Corpus offers free soup in Plato's Cave. It's always a great time to be with great people, and, most important, enjoy free food!

 

As exciting and fun-filled as my first year at Corpus Christi has been thus far, I'd like to point out that I've also had my fill of standard "university moments."

 

Corpus does not offer to take away your final-exam woes or do essay research for you.

 

However, it gives you the tools you need, in the form of professors who are dedicated to seeing you learn and succeed as a student and as a person.

 

I can't remember the number of times I went in during my English professor's office hours for one particular essay, but when it was handed back, I was much relieved to see that my dedication to writing a solid essay had paid off in the form of my first A paper.

 

If you're willing to get out as much as you put into your total university experience, then Corpus Christi won't disappoint you. I, for one, know that it has lived up to my expectations of being a spiritually-, socially-, and intellectually-rounding place to be.

 

I knew that if I chose to attend Corpus Christi my professors would know me as "Olivier," and not "10495919."