Excitement builds as thousands of students arrive at Simcoe County campuses

Thousands of university students will be heading to Simcoe County this weekend as students prepare for the fall semester.

Georgia Markham is a first-year student, and one of 244 students who will be living at the Orillia residence campus this year at Lakehead University.

"I'm just really excited for the first week of college experience and getting to know everyone and starting my classes," she said on Thursday.

The students' excitement fills the Orillia campus as first-years move into their residences, beginning a new chapter and saying goodbye to the comfort of home.

"There is a very strong sense of community among students. They get to know their faculty members; they get to know the staff. I love to go to the Orillia campus because that feeling of community and that joy of community is palpable," said Lakehead University president Gillian Siddall.

• Download the CTV News app to get local alerts on your device 
• Get the latest local updates sent to your email inbox

That joy is also shared by close to 2,000 international students from 82 different countries. Despite the federal government announcing a cap on the international student program, Siddall said enrollment numbers for this coming school year remain the same as last year.

"They're [international students] doing pretty well. In terms of support, we have residence rooms available and supports to help them with housing and just kind of getting set up in a new country, like banking and all of the things needed to get started here," said Siddall.

At Georgian College's Barrie campus, orientation is underway as students prepare to start the semester. There are more than 13,000 students across the Barrie campuses, with 7,000 of those international students - all beginning classes next week.

• RELATED | Students start writing next life chapter at Georgian College

"First-year students that are coming in for their first day have this day to orient themselves with each other, with the school and with the institution and feel good about coming to school," explained Hilary Villneff, Georgian College manager of student transition and engagement.

Residence move-in at Georgian College begins on Saturday, with more than 500 students expected to arrive to move into their dorms.