By Alora Peters, Arts & Culture Editor
“Face masks must be worn by all when in the presence of others. Always stay at least 6 feet from other people. Avoid mass gatherings. Do not hug, shake hands, or otherwise have physical greetings that require touching.”
“Students failing to comply with applicable behavioral expectations will be subject to conduct charges.”
These rules—outlined in Saint Leo University’s Return to the Pride framework—are being put in place and enforced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, for the safety and health of all students, faculty, and staff on the university campus.
It is an understandable and noble sentiment. However, the proposed guidelines raise some serious questions about the social wellbeing of Saint Leo students in the fall. If students adhere to the above social distancing measures, does this mean that they will go through the semester without any form of physical interaction with others? Will students see the faces of their fellow classmates only occasionally—when eating or through a computer screen?
And what does all of this mean for making new friends?
For many incoming students, starting at Saint Leo means adjusting to a new daily and weekly schedule, sleeping under a different roof, becoming an autonomous adult, and even learning to live in a new country. Meeting friends can seem a daunting task, given all of the additional challenges that come with the first year of college.
This is why, from the moment a person sets foot on campus, Saint Leo attempts to emphasize their Core Value of Community and work at building lasting relationships among students. One of the ways the university does this is through New Student Orientation and Welcome Week.
Last fall, Saint Leo welcomed over 1,000 new students—a record-breaking number—to campus during New Student Orientation. The number of people attending orientation was so large that some events, such as the “Welcome to the Pride” and the Convocation Ceremony, permitted only three persons per party—a student and two family members or guests—to attend in order to avoid overcapacity in the Marion Bowman Activities Center.
Due to COVID-19 precautions, New Student Orientation 2020 has already undergone a variety of modifications, and changes are still being made to the schedule as the pandemic situation fluctuates.
According to Dawn McElveen, the Director of Orientation and Parent/Family Programs here at Saint Leo, the adjustments to the program started happening back in the spring.
“Starting this year, we were originally supposed to start transitioning to summer orientations,” said McElveen. “But by April, we realized that wouldn’t really be doable.”
The initial idea was to have four, smaller two-day orientations for incoming students spread throughout the summer, and to culminate with a massive Welcome Week celebration.
“It is still our intention to do a Welcome Week that is more robust than we have had in the past,” said McElveen. Nonetheless, activities and informational sessions will be different.
Among these changes is the potential shift to “hybrid”—half in-person, half online—activities due to the necessity of keeping a building or room at less than 50% capacity.
“We might have an in-person activity, but only for so many students,” said McElveen. “For convocation, for example, we’ll have about two hundred students actually in the gym, whereas the majority of the new students will actually be streaming it because of those space limitations.”
Other activities will include unfacilitated or self-guided activities, where students can pick up instructions and game materials from stations around campus to complete the activity alone or in a group.
One of the main goals is to keep students active and from feeling lonely.
“We’ll have live music or performances near Benedict’s Coffee House every day, other activities in the evening, the admissions office will do meet-and-greets every day, we’ll be having campus tours… stuff like that, so that students have something to do, so they’re not just sitting in their rooms by themselves, feeling homesick,” said McElveen.
Coronavirus-preventing precautions will also have an effect on a student’s families and friends who would like to say goodbye. Unfortunately, they won’t be able to do so on campus.
“Typically, there is a day for parents at orientation. Last year, there were two,” said McElveen. “This Fall, there will not be any physical, in-person programs for parents,” as the university is “really encouraging people to depart as quickly as possible.”
The informational sessions for parents and families have largely moved online via the remote platform Zoom, consisting of biweekly or monthly webinars and question-and-answer programs with Saint Leo representatives. The sessions have covered a variety of topics, such as financial aid, work study programs, housing selection, and much more.
“It’s something new, but it’s something positive,” said McElveen. “It’s been good to ease people’s anxieties and answer questions ahead of time.”
It is additions like this, McElveen says, that the university hopes to continue even after the pandemic has subsided.
“I’m more excited about the positives,” said McElveen. “People are really hungry for interactions. I think that might mean that people will interact with people they might not ordinarily interact with. I hope that people will be a little bit braver if they’re shy or introverted. Because we’re so hungry for interactions with others, we’re going to have more genuine and deeper interactions, too!”
An important thing for new or returning students to remember is that they will not be alone in these unprecedented times. Last year, Saint Leo did welcome a record-breaking number of new students—but the number of incoming students this fall is not too different.
“Last year’s 1,000+ numbers factored in graduate and transfer students,” said McElveen. In terms of incoming freshmen, however, “we were actually closer to about 960.”
Currently, about 940 freshmen are registered to begin at Saint Leo in Fall 2020. That’s 940 students who are looking—in some way—to build connections with others.
Classes will be different. Activities will be different. Friendships will be different.
But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be a great new year.
