Many Michigan State University students are moving into campus this week. That’s after the coronavirus pandemic shifted their previous academic year towards virtual learning.
A line of parked cars is slowly forming on both sides of the streets leading into the entrance to Holden Hall at Michigan State University.
Students and their families are hauling belongings into their dorms in large green carts, leaving car trunks popped open and doors ajar.
Many are carrying boxes, and plastic tubs full of clothes and cleaning supplies.
Everyone around is wearing a mask.
Chaz Petrosky is on his last trip bringing items from his dad’s truck into his dorm. He’s with his roommate Matthew Rouse.
“Its a lot less chaotic. I was definitely more ready to move in last year than I was this year just cause we were locked in the house for so long last year," Petrosky said. “Its a lot warmer too than I thought."
“Yeah! Its very warm," Rouse said.
Petrosky is a sophomore and a packaging major at MSU. He said this year on campus is going to look a lot different than it would have, had he been able to live here as a freshman.
“I think its going to be almost a freshman experience but not exactly the same. We are obviously not freshmen so people are going to expect more out of us," he explained. "You can’t do as much stupid stuff as you normally would.”
I ask him how he’s coping having to say goodbye to his parents and to life back home in Bay City.
“I'm an only child. It's very hard," Petrosky responded with tears in his eyes.
On the other side of the street are Amanda Jeffries and her dad Mike. She’s also an incoming sophomore.
“I'm excited," Amanda Jeffries said.
“I never had this experience ‘cause I commuted to school, but I'm excited for her and hope that she has a good time. I hope she keeps her grades up," Mike Jeffries said.
Mike Jeffries said he thinks the university is taking the right precautions to keep his daughter safe from COVID.
“I'm kind of not the 'worry-type' guy. That's what the wife does, so we're kind of the yin and yang. But I kind of go with the flow and we've been vaccinated. We try to stay away from big groups and do what we can," he added.
This year the university is mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for all students, with very limited exceptions. Masks are also required in all indoor spaces.
Amanda Jeffries hopes it will all be enough to keep her at school this year.