Wright State Housing | Photo by Christian Peters | The Wright State Guardian
As trademark events such as Move-In Weekend, Fall Fest and Boogie on the Bricks conclude, approximately 750 new residential students, many of them freshmen, have settled in their new rooms for fall semester.
This is a drop from the nearly 1,800 who were interested in residential living in fall 2018.
Moving into a completely new space can be difficult for incoming students. This year is different for new freshmen with a few changes to restrictions and regulations.
COVID-19 regulations
Previous residential students may remember being unable to talk to suitemates and not being allowed to have guests.
Director of Housing Dan Bertsos elaborated on the current situation with COVID-19.
“One difference between this year and last year is that if two people wanted to be roommates and if they were both vaccinated, they could live together in the same room. For example, we had thirty pairs of students who asked to live together in the residence halls,” Bertsos said.
There was also a push to test students who were back from the long Labor Day weekend and lack of tests was a common problem. Bertsos clarified on the COVID testing plan going forward.
“Testing going forward is going to be what we intended to do this semester all along which is survey sampling. We’re going to pick a random group of people, residents in the halls, but they’re also going to do the same for staff and faculty. At the same time, the Environmental Safety Office is also testing wastewater like they did last year. And if they identify COVID virus in the wastewater from one of the halls or one of the apartment buildings they will go into that building and do 100% testing there,” Bertos said.
Freshmen experience
“My dorm location is very convenient. It’s nice. It’s clean there. I’ve made more connections with everything on campus. I’ve gotten to know my RA already better and she’s giving me resources that I would never have known if I didn’t,” Marcela Gallegos-Holguin, Hamilton Hall resident and Women, Gender, and Sexuality major said.
Chad Dudash, Residential Senator for Student Government Association, advises freshmen to engage with campus.
“The obvious answer is to get involved. What was helpful for me was to get involved in clubs and organizations and getting a job on campus. But obviously, it’s not that easy for every single student because every single student looks different,” Dudash said.
Even though a large amount of the activities specific for residential students are in the first month, students can still check upcoming events in the weekly email sent to residential students.
