Super Social Saturday brings newcomers and international students together on Saturday at the Portland United Church in Saint John, N.B. (submitted)
Students from four New Brunswick universities will gather in Saint John on Saturday to spend time with newcomer families from all over the world, including Egypt, Somalia, Syria and China.
Super Social Saturday is a partnership between the University of New Brunswick and the Saint John Newcomers Centre.
It involves students from UNB, St. Thomas University, Mount Allison University, and the Université de Moncton.
Sarah King, the director of experiential education at UNB, says the newcomer centre came to them last year with the idea of connecting them with the community and the provincial universities.
“The need on the university side was a desire for all four publicly-funded universities in the province to partner on an event. We thought it would be really neat to bring students together from different universities to meet each other,” King said
King says 35 to 40 students from each school will attend.
“We are also bringing with us from our campuses international students from a variety of countries. One of the students we are bringing from UNB is a refugee from Syria who came in 2005 and is now studying with us at UNB,” King said.
About 100 newcomer families will also take part, share food and take part in crafts.
The students will participate in cultural competency training to improve their ability to engage with diverse communities.
Funding for Super Saturday Social comes from FutureReadyNB, a program that provides experiential learning opportunities for students looking to enhance their personal and professional skills.
It runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m at the Portland United Church at 50 Newport Crescent in Saint John.
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