First-year Laurentian University student Shaelynne Wallace showed up at the university’s West Residence on the afternoon of Friday, Sept. 4 with a U-Haul trailer full of belongings and a handful of family members to help cart them to her room.
She had just one hour to move her things into the residence as part of the university’s COVID-19 precautions (rez move-in was also spaced out Aug. 31 to Sept. 8 to promote social distancing, as opposed to the hectic usual two or three-day move-in period).
While speaking to Sudbury.com, the education major couldn’t contain her excitement about the year to come. “I’ve loved children my entire life,” said the Hamilton resident. “That’s why I’ve wanted to go into this program. I’m so excited.”
The thing is, 99 per cent of Laurentian’s classes will be delivered online this semester due to the pandemic, including all of Wallace’s.
“I wanted to get the experience of being out on my own and just seeing the world on my own, and not living under mom and dad’s roof,” Wallace said.
She was one of about 500 students who moved into Laurentian rez last week — normally there are about 1,200 students living in the university’s residences.
Laurentian residence life manager Joseph McGibbon said that doesn’t include residences run by the federated universities operating on campus.
Thorneloe’s residence is not operating this semester, and the University of Sudbury’s residence has only 60 of its 200 beds occupied. McGibbon said he hadn’t heard from Huntington about the plans for its residence.
He said some of those staying in rez are students who have stayed on campus throughout the pandemic because they had nowhere else to go — international students being a prime example.
And others, like Wallace, have just moved into rez (or back into rez) because they want the experience of living on campus, or say they can concentrate better when they’re at school, as opposed to at home.
McGibbon said there are also some students who live in remote areas without adequate internet access, so living on campus is a better option for them, given that most classes are currently online.
“We were to be honest kind of surprised the number was so high, as everyone I’m sure is, given most of the classes are not in person,” he said.
As COVID-19 outbreaks are being reported at post-secondary schools in the United States, McGibbon said Laurentian’s residence staff are taking precautions to ensure nothing of the sort happens here.
“All of our students will be in single rooms — they won’t be in double rooms at all,” McGibbon said.
“The max capacity for a bathroom will be two students for a bathroom. I’ve been working with Public Health Sudbury and Districts for months now in getting ready for the students to return. So we have signage all over residence such as directional arrows so students can stay safe and physically distance, and max capacity in any area that students may share, like a laundry room.
“We’ve also set up hand sanitizer stations and disinfecting wipes at areas such as the printers that are in residence.
“Our cleaners in residence, they’ve increased their cleaning, including high-touch surfaces, actually since January. There’s also a training course for all of our residents on COVID-19, which they have to complete before they move in.”
Gavin Lang, a second-year Laurentian business management student, said he lived in rez in the last school year as well, and met some great friends. He opted to come back to campus again so they could continue that experience.
“WIth COVID, we thought why let that stop us?” said the Kawartha Lakes resident, who was also moving into West Residence on Sept. 4.
“We might as well come up here. It’s a different environment to study in. I know I can’t study at home. If I stayed at home, I would have too many distractions to go out, do this, do that instead. It’s a place to focus and get good grades and whatnot.”
Sam Sibbick, a third-year Laurentian education student, is a residence assistant at West Residence, where she’ll be a student leader and listening ear for fellow students living in rez.
She said she knows her job will be more of a challenge this year, with COVID-19 restrictions making get-togethers out of the question.
“I just want to try as much as I can to get them involved, and meet new people, even if it is a little bit difficult,” Sibbick said.
“Obviously, with the safety procedures and everything still, I just want them to have a good year, especially if they’re in first year, too, because it is going to be difficult to go out and have fun and experience things, because it’s not the same.
“But I still want them to have some experiences to come home with them, and want to come back and feel included in campus and the school.”
The situation over at Cambrian College’s residence is somewhat different, where about 500 of its 600 residence rooms are full.
Priority is being given to students who have in-person classes this semester. Because Cambrian is a college, where more training is more hands-on, about 1,500 of its 4,000 students will have to be on campus for classes.
Cambrian residence general manager Jamie Lafrance said the college’s residences are already set up so students don’t share rooms, so it’s easier to physically distance, even in a normal year.
The occupancy on the townhouse-style residences have been reduced from six to four students as a precaution.
He said one of the biggest changes is the ban on large gatherings of students.
“We still want there to be a sense of community,” Lafrance said. “We still want them to enjoy their time in residence and meet new friends.
“However, knowing you can’t have those large gatherings you used to have in common rooms and events where the students would go and meet people face-to-face, we’re trying to do some virtual programming for the students.
“We’re trying to keep the experience fun and uplifting and still a place where that they can go and be happy that they’re living on campus, and getting a good student experience while still being safe.”
