HAMDEN, Conn. — Quinnipiac University welcomed first-year students back to campus this weekend. The move-in process is a careful one, keeping safety a priority from the start.
"They need to have taken a COVID-19 test, and bring the results to our very, very sophisticated check-in process," said Tom Ellett, Chief Experience Officer at Quinnipiac University.
That process involves a lot of social distancing, which means students could only get help moving in from one other person. To ease some stress, students were allowed to drop off some of their belongings during orientation a few weeks ago.
"To be able to move in half of our stuff already, and then today just moving the rest of my stuff so most of my stuff was here, it was great," said Arden Peters, a freshman.
The precautions are in place, but keeping everyone safe and healthy moving forward is going to depend on students following the rules.
"It's a team effort. We've asked students, student ambassadors from the athletics, orientation leaders, RAs who have been trained to be able to do some bystander intervention that would remind students," said Ellett.
Students are also hopeful their peers will do the right thing.
"If you don't follow the rules then we're all going to be sent home and it's just not going to be fun for anyone," said Drew Barbieri.
The Class of 2024 knows better than anyone what it's like to have COVID-19 ruin plans after their senior year got cut short, and now the start of college isn't what they imagined.
"We're not allowed to have people from outside our dorms come in our dorms so meeting new people is something that I'm definitely nervous about that," said Barbieri.
However they also know a thing or two about staying positive.
"Absolutely, count your blessings, I'm happy that I'm on campus for sure," said Barbieri.
"If I can wear a mask and be on campus then I'll definitely do that because if I was home my experience would be totally different," said Peters.
Classes start online on Monday, but they won't be in person until September 7th.