Each autumn, colleges across the world face the same quiet challenge: how to transform a crowd of strangers into a community before the weight of coursework sets in. On September 9, North Island College will gather new and returning students outside Discovery Hall in the Comox Valley, not merely to distribute maps and schedules, but to signal from the very first hours that belonging is possible here. With a new consolidated resource guide and orientation events stretching across three campuses, the institution is wagering that how a student begins shapes whether they will stay, ask for help, a