By Karisa Desjardins (BUSA ‘16)
In 2007, Champlain College realized a long-held dream to open a study abroad campus outside the United States. Montreal, Quebec, Canada was chosen not only because of its eclectic mix of languages and cultures, but also due to the city’s exciting learning and professional opportunities in Emerging Media. Since then, Champlain Abroad Montreal has seen more than 600 students pass through its doors, placed 131 interns at companies like Ubisoft and Behavior, and now has over 20 alumni working and living in the city. With all of these achievements and more, it was time to celebrate!
On October 12th, Champlain College held its 10th Anniversary event at the Phi Centre in the Old Port of Montreal. Students arrived early to help set up and volunteer throughout the night and demo some of best student games produced in Montreal. The games on hand were as exciting to play as they were impressive to watch: EOS, a VR experience where players create their own solar system and then interact with the planets they’ve created; Crooked
Cooks, a co-op game where the goal is to prep a meal for the King, while one person secretly tries to poison the food. Everyone from Burlington faculty, to industry representatives, to Champlain Trustees picked up a controller or a VR headset to join in on the fun.
For Montreal Alumni, the event meant a chance to catch up with professors and have some quality networking time with current students. It was a great opportunity for alumni to connect with students and share their personal experience working and living in Montreal and give some background on how they made it to where they are today (and offer a few tips and pieces of advice!).
Don Laackman spoke of the incredible success the Montreal campus has achieved in the past 10 years, while Campus Director Genevieve Lord highlighted the incredible staff and students who have made the Montreal campus what it is today. Guillaume Langlois, Adjunct Faculty in Montreal since the beginning, shared his experiences and how he really pushes students to “squeeze every drop of potential out” while in Montreal. Finally, we heard from Colton Orr, a current Game Art student, who shared his Champlain Montreal story – from his classroom experience to interning at a local gaming company and how it has influenced his career goals. The speakers truly showcased the incredibly positive impact the Montreal campus has had on students, alumni, and the College as a whole.
The Champlain Montreal campus has so much to celebrate this year and in the years to come – the event was a great way to showcase all of the staff and student achievements over the past 10 years and take the time to congratulate them on all of their successes. I’m sure we are all looking forward to what the next 10 years will bring for the Champlain Community in Montreal!