Windsor - More than Meets the Eye

Whoever says Windsor is a boring place to be has clearly not found the right people or looked beyond the windshield of the automobile capital of Canada.

I spent most of my student life on campus, either working or attending classes. The one thing I’ve encountered frequently since day one, apart from geese droppings, was a feeling, an idea, or a sentiment about UWindsor. “UWindsor is dead” as I recall overhearing a conversation between a group of first-year students. “Windsor is the most boring place to be”, “There’s nothing much to do here”. At first, I believed this revelation. Surely people who have grown up in this city or lived in this country their whole life would know better than me; someone who travelled across the world just to live in this city. I just wished I could have known that before I took the trip! ‍ ‍

On the 22nd of April 2022, a day I considered to be “chilly”, but for the rest of Canada that was emerging out of yet another gruelling Winter, was “nice and warm”, my flight touched down in Toronto. My new chapter had begun. A jetlag-induced coma, a train ride, and 2 weeks later, I found myself being dropped off in front of this weird building my Vets Cab driver said was “Main Campus”. I felt like Mr. Bean at the start of every episode - Dropped in on a spotlight, completely disoriented, lost, and confused. With me were two big blue luggage bags, a duffle bag, my guitar, and a backpack. Not a single person was to be seen. The campus was empty, almost dead. I called the only contact I had in Windsor, a former student who has since moved on and asked her, “What is the Anthony P. Toldo Health Education Centre? Is that where my room is?” She had no idea. After giving myself an unguided tour around what would soon be my home turf, I found two students who were kind enough to escort me and my luggage to Alumni Hall. I thought my worries were over the moment I checked in at the front desk but quickly realized the summer doesn’t include a meal plan. ‍ ‍

My first University experience had nothing to do with academics or campus life. As someone who enjoyed outdoor running, I signed up for a program that was offered by the Toldo Lancer Centre when scrolling through Instagram in my room. Back in the Summer of 2022, the Toldo Lancer Centre was just being birthed, and the longtime St. Dennis Centre was where I met some people who shaped the next four years of my life. Suddenly, I had something to look forward to, and take initiative in. The summer ran past me. Mike McMahon, the Fitness and Sport Conditioning Coordinator asked me to lead the run club starting the Fall of 2025. He also recommended me to the customer service team at the newly opened Toldo Lancer Centre. These two jobs would lead to many more over the coming years that transformed the way I saw myself and the journey ahead. I consider myself lucky as students usually find jobs by applying for them through mysuccess.uwindsor.ca where they can find both, on campus and off campus job postings. This website also allows students to sign up for events organized by different university departments and clubs. During one of our runs, I expressed how thankful I am to Mike for setting me up for a great first-year experience. He looked over at me as we gracefully dodged geese droppings along the riverfront trail and said, “You have yourself to thank, you took the initiative”.

A photo of the Lancer Run Club on the riverfront trail back in the Summer of 2022.

My first year as an international student had barely begun, and I was already helping other students navigate the campus, set up their fitness center memberships, and mentoring them on how to be a successful student. Sometimes I liked to think that I was speaking to myself. In the Spring of 2023, I began working at the International Student Centre. Back then, the ISC was located on the 2nd floor of Laurier Hall. The hardest part about being an international student at UWindsor was locating this office. Today, it operates in grandiose on the 2nd floor of the Joyce Entrepreneurship Centre. The job was almost identical to the TLC front desk. I helped students check-in for appointments with either the immigration advisors Amal Jamal and Romi Saraswat, the health insurance administrator Marisa Bonasso, or learn about student exchange opportunities with Michelle Fitzgerald. I also answered calls. There were many instances where I would pick up a call and say “Thank you for calling the Toldo Lancer Centre” out of habit. It always made Krista Schneider laugh. Our office had a team of students from all parts of the world. Regardless of where we were from, we would always find Mike Houston’s pop culture references and sarcasm hilarious.

Sometimes, having fun or appreciating where you are in life this very moment does not require any organization or even money. All you need is to make a move. I have spent more time walking around Malden Park and cycling through the trails of Ojibway than I have spent studying. My GPA will confirm that. It has been almost two years since I passed on the Run Club leadership, and I have enjoyed solo running without the responsibility of babysitting rookie runners. One spring morning in Malden Park, as I was making my way up to the viewpoint where you can gaze at the brand-new Gordie Howe Bridge and the one or two tall buildings that make up the Detroit skyline, a baby deer jumped out of the trees in front of me. I stopped in amazement as its mother followed soon after and they crossed the trail only to disappear into the forest from the other side. I have never been a spiritual man, but I knew that was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.

My friends and family back home were concerned that I lacked a personal life, that I substituted social interaction with professional engagement. Maybe that is something I still must work on, or maybe I have just fully integrated myself into the Canadian work ethic. Either way, I kept pushing on. I worked as a projectionist for the Windsor International Film Festival between 2022-2025. Most professions can tolerate mistakes and accidents. You learn from them and enjoy the process. Not a projectionist. If you make a mistake as a projectionist, you ruin the theatre experience of thousands of people. Imagine turning off the TV whilst having a movie night with your friends, now multiply that by a thousand. The WIFF is not only the largest volunteer-run film festival in the country, but also the most important event for the city as countless local businesses rely on the tourism it stimulates during its two-week run every year. My favourite experience was being surrounded by Warner Bros. security during a screening of American Fiction (2023) as the film had not been released yet. As the projectionist, I felt I was the most important person in the room to have my own temporary security detail, even if they were only guarding the intellectual property.

Perhaps the most efficient way to discover what is going on in Windsor was to work as a host on the campus radio station. Why go to Windsor when you can bring Windsor to you? Well, if only that was possible from Sri Lanka. However, CJAM 99.1FM which has celebrated over forty years broadcasting on FM radio allowed me to interview students, scholars, event organizers, and artists during my three-month placement. I discovered that every Summer, the Multi Cultural Council of Windsor-Essex organizes a Carousel of Nations. You can experience different cuisines, fashion, dance, music, and more all around the city. Kristen Siapas talked to me about Jazz in the Park which is an annual Jazz festival lighting up many of Windsor’s public parks and has become a staple amongst residents. Whilst editing all my interviews inside the sweaty CJAM studio in the basement of the CAW Student Centre, I realized that a lot of students are not aware of everything that is going on in their city. New students seem to commit towards the notion that “Windsor is a boring place”.

This became more prominent when I started working as a tour guide for the University. I performed at least a hundred campus tours to high school students from across the country looking to start their higher education journey as well as their parents. I would often get the question, “So why did you choose UWindsor?” and to be honest, I would always stumble. My job trained me to respond to that question with many generic answers which served the university – “Because it’s the best!”, “Because of the diversity!”, or my personal favourite, “Because we have an average student to faculty ratio of 9:1”. I still don’t understand that to this day. However, despite writing countless conclusions to research questions as a communications student, I never arrived at a conclusion to why I chose UWindsor. Based on my experience, I would look the kid in the eyes in front of their parents and say, “It is not where you go, it is who you choose to be that makes a difference”. This would often be met with awkward silence which I would fill by saying “Thank you for visiting us, we hope to see you next Fall!” I still stand by what I said because I experienced it firsthand.

A selfie taken whilst working as a tour guide during Fall open house 2024.

My final on-campus work experience was the UWindsor equivalent of an Avengers Assemble in terms of the jobs I have completed over the past four years. Over the Summer of 2025, I worked full-time as the sponsorship coordinator for the university at the Student Success and Leadership Centre. This department organizes all student orientation events and programming throughout the year. Ironically, they were all things I never interacted with as a first-year despite all my experiences. Pitching university events to potential sponsors was like asking someone to go out with you because you know a lot of people. Surprisingly, it worked on a few! There were two weeks of training which I underwent along with the other nine students I was working with. To me, these sessions felt more like a nostalgia trip as we learnt about the Toldo Lancer Centre, the International Student Centre, my tour guide friends trained us on how to use the tour mics, I got to revisit Alumni Hall and see the meal plan in action for once in my life, and more. By the end of the Summer, I realized my journey as a Lancer was coming to an end. I felt fulfilled but still unsure why so many students still believed Windsor had nothing much to offer.

I revisited the question, “Why did you choose UWindsor?”. I still didn’t know. But now, I realize, I don’t need to, I’m not supposed to. You cannot help a person be happy if they don’t want to. All you can do is be honest about your experience and share your perspective. The only objective experience Lancers will ever have is running from geese. Supporting the idea that Windsor is and always will be a boring, lifeless, grey place may be easy or even popular. I guarantee you that even if you follow this path, you will be surprised in the moments this city shines. Just like the people I met one evening in Alumni Hall during my first semester who saw the sunset through the fourth-floor lounge window and said “Why is Windsor so beautiful right now? What is going on?”

You may be someone with a similar perspective on our city and university just like me or maybe there are things I missed. One of the goals The Lance has now that it is back, is to create a healthier and more fulfilling perspective on campus life. We want to write news that entertains, informs, and inspires you to challenge the norms that cloud your experience. Reach out to us if there are campus or city experiences which can do so

I don’t think Windsor is a boring place, I think it is just like any other place you could have gone to. It is simply, a place to be.