Welcome to Saint James School of Medicine!

Fall Orientation has just taken place and all our students are now hard at work. We welcomed a record number of students in both schools. We’d like to greet all our new students. Welcome to your great endeavour! We congratulate you on making it this far. You’ve just embarked on an important milestone of your medical career and we wish you all the best for the next 16 months of study in the islands. If you are new to Saint James you are probably busy getting your heads round a new country, new culture, new people and a whole heap of new information. That’s a lot to take in all at once and it’s normal if you are feeling a little overwhelmed.  Please remember, if you do need help, the faculty and the student council are there for you. Saint James has a warm supportive culture and there is plenty of formal and informal support there for you if you need it. Welcome back also to our existing students. Many of you have been visiting family and friends, getting a taste of home comforts. We hope that you all enjoyed your break and look forward to working with you as you embark on the new classes of your fall semester. Orientation week was a great success on both islands. It was a privilege to meet so many families who travelled to the islands to help new students settle in. Thank you for coming. We always enjoy meeting you and hearing your stories and your support means so much to the new students. After orientation in Anguilla there was a beach barbecue. New students and returning students, faculty and families all got together on the beach and enjoyed some tasty local food and the glorious weather. This year in Bonaire we were lucky enough to have a public holiday straight after orientation. We hired a beach volleyball court down at the Plaza Resort and put on some food and drink. We thought it would be a nice way to relax before getting stuck into the rigors of a new term. Well it went off! Over 80 people came and we had a wonderful afternoon playing and talking in the sun. We’re excited it was such a success and we’d love to make it a regular orientation event. We’ve just got to work on ensuring there’s always a public holiday to play on. We’ll keep you posted on how we go with that!