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Buffalo State 'staggered' move-in process underway for students

Ryan Zunner
/
WBFO News

Buffalo State College students are spending the remainder of the week moving into campus housing.

Vice President for Student Affairs Tim Gordon is calling the move-in process this year a “staggered approach.” Students from COVID hot spot areas have already started their mandatory quarantine, while in-state and non-hotspot students are starting to move in as spread out as possible.

“Upon arrival and thanks to our partners at Independent Health students are provided a student health safety kit, which includes masks/face coverings, sani-key, wipes, hand sanitizer and a forehead thermometer so they can monitor their symptoms,” said Gordon.

Around 1,600 students will be calling the residence halls home this school year, a significantly lower amount than previous years.

“Based on the number of students we have living with us, the majority of students who are taking in-person courses are living on-campus,” Gordon said. “Those that live in the five mile radius we certainly continue to work with the city of Buffalo to make sure we understand where are students are and how they connect with us to let us know if there are any concerns”

Joslyn Bossiere is a Buff State sophomore from New York City, she’s excited to be back on campus, but worried about COVID-19 spikes that have already happened at other colleges, happening in Buffalo.

“Everyon is coming from the city or coming from different places, it might spike or get higher than it was before,” said Bossiere. “So it is worrying me a little bit, because my family comes from the Bronx so them driving six hours to come and drop us off today, and then them having to come back six hours when we have to leave is going to be stressful. I hope it doesn’t get to that point.”

Bossiere offered some words of advice for other students trying to get their education in the middle of a pandemic.

“Just be patient with yourself, be patient with the people around you because nobody knows what’s going on and everybody’s trying to figure it out at the same time,” Bossiere said. “Don’t get frustrated too fast, and just focus on the idea that soon it’s going to get better than it is right now, because if you don’t you’re just going to get stuck.”

Around 75% of classes are already online, college president Katherine Conway-Turner said thresholds to go all online will be a combination of Western New York COVID rates, capacity of their quarantine facility, and decision from the Governor.

 

Ryan Zunner joined WBFO in the summer of 2018 as an intern, before working his way up to reporter the following summer.
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