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Following a tumultuous past few years amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022-2023 school year promises to be an exciting time with students back on campus for in-person learning. Sarkis Hannaian, 3^rd year PhD Candidate and this year’s KPE graduate (KPEG) committee president, is certainly looking forward to the resumption of research at full capacity without COVID-19 related restrictions. He says ‘it’s nice to see everyone’s faces and their uplifted spirits due to the return of ‘normalcy’ in society. It’s always nice to meet the new students entering our department, learning about their research, and creating new connections and friendships’.

One of his goals as KPEG president, with the help of the other committee members, is to foster a welcoming environment and to ease the transition for incoming students. He states, ‘we want to develop a supportive and social culture within our department that transcends the academic experience’. To do this, the KPEG committee will be planning social, academic, and fundraising events that take place periodically throughout the year and that aim bridge the gap between students and department staff in order to give the students the best experience possible at McGill.

An exciting event to look forward in the upcoming school year is the second Minds in Motion (MIM) Research Conference, an event that is organized by graduate students in the department. Sarkis offers, ‘building from the success of last year’s conference, I think we can transform MIM into something big and something we can be very proud of. I look forward to seeing everyone at the conference and various other events throughout the year’.

The image shows graduate students from the Dept. of Kinesiology & Physical Education enjoying a welcome pizza lunch to celebrate the start of the new school year.