University Avenue filled with vehicles as first-year Queen’s students moved into residence, with staff, volunteers and police helping manage the influx.
Queen’s welcomed more than 4,800 students during move-in weekend.
Corinna Fitzgerald, vice-provost of student affairs, said Queen’s begins coordinating with the city and community partners well before move-in weekend.
“We have, I would say, a formula or a plan in place that gets refined year over year along with the city and community partners, and so far, so good today,” said Fitzgerald.
Kate Murray, executive director of housing and ancillary services, explained that staff and volunteers want to ensure students feel comfortable during the transition.
“Everyone’s experiencing this environment for the first time, and it can be really exciting, but it can also feel overwhelming, and so we want to ensure that the experience is smooth, and that we’re able to make people feel comfortable,” said Murray.
She added that students can expect to have support when needed during their time in residence.
“We have our Residence Life Coordinators, who are full-time staff who live in the buildings, and they are available…We have quite a large Residence Life and Services team, so our pillars of support are around academic success, helping students to build resilience, and helping students to find a sense of calm,” said Murray.
Murray said almost 60 per cent of residence students had moved in by noon Saturday.
Signs at the Student Affairs tent on University Avenue during move-in day. (YGK News/Meaghan Beavis)
Yahya Mohamed, president and CEO of the Residence Society at Queen’s University, spent move-in day at the Student Affairs tent speaking with incoming students and responding to concerns.
“At the Residence Society, we focus a lot on advocacy for students, so lots of students come to us with lots of different concerns,” said Mohamed.
Mohamed has attended the last five residence move-ins and believes there have been many constructive changes since his move-in day.
“Every year you can see lots of small little changes that make it definitely smoother for the students. We see that in feedback, and we see that in just the flow of traffic,” said Mohamed.
Following move-in, students have been able participate in activities and events before classes began on September 8th.
