ROCK ISLAND, Illinois — First-year students at Augustana College started moving into their residence Wednesday, August 26th, and because of the pandemic, the move-in process looks a little different.
Assistant Director of Resident Life Michelle Mason says to allow for social distancing and safety, the process is more spread out this year.
A few dozen staffers are helping students move in over five days, instead of hundreds of volunteers taking on the job in just one morning.
The residence life team has made some changes to the rooms too to allow for social distancing between roommates. Beds have 12 feet of distance between each other, and rooms that couldn't provide that space were converted to singles rooms.
Once everyone is settled in for the first day of classes on Monday, August 31st, the Pepsico Recreation Center will also be COVID-19 testing center, for 300 volunteers across campus to take a saliva test weekly.
Associate Director of Athletics Dave Wrath is coordinating and organizing the surveillance testing process, and says those tested will account for about 15 percent of the student and staff population.
"We're doing the masks and social distancing," Wrath says. "This is just an example to see if those policies are taking effect. It'a random sample and honestly for September, we're gonna test the same people."
Each month, a new batch of volunteers will be chosen to see if cases spread and to keep cases under control so students can live and learn on campus as long as possible.
Freshman Madison Morrow says she's nervous and excited to move into her dorm and she's ready to get back in class again after spending the end of her senior year at home.
"It was a very awful ending to senior year and we didn't get a track season either," she says.
She says she knows that there's always the possibility that this semester could end up like last spring.
"I'm hoping to stay here as long as possible to get the experience, but if we get sent home, we get sent home I guess," Morrow says.
Students will also have the opportunity to get tested for COVID-19 with a doctor's referral at the college's new wellness clinic opening Monday, August 31st.