SCAD students express excitement and concerns over fall housing
Written by Ashley Wehrs, Photographs courtesy of SCAD Residence Life and Housing
April 2020, I missed my housing reservation fee deadline for the fall quarter. I was horrified. I had been home in Seattle due to COVID-19 and mixed up the time difference. All points of contact confirmed I could no longer request my friends as roommates. But, not long after, all on campus housing plans were cancelled.
On March 30, SCAD students received an email announcement detailing their intention to return to full occupancy for summer and fall quarters after over a year of less than full occupancy housing.
Between the increasing Georgia vaccinations and on campus housing updates, it seems we’re one step closer to being fully back to the school we once roamed so freely. As we near housing selection days, I reached out to SCAD students to get their take.
Kimmi Chapelle, a second-year film and television student, says she has been living on campus already this year, but is interested to see what the fall quarter COVID regulations will be and how the atmosphere of on campus housing will change.
Chapelle said that she noticed a decline in campus energy since her time as a first-year at the Hive. “Everything just feels very isolated and cold and I think that’s just the result of us all living in isolation for a year,” Chappelle said, “We’re all still in the mindset of quarantining ourselves – which we should be, because there is still a global pandemic.”
Despite current circumstances, Chappelle says she still thinks there are good parts about being back. “There’s hope of building back comradery,” Chappelle said.
Amid dining hall and other building and resource restrictions, Chapelle said she thought there should be lesser fees. “I think they’re handling everything as well as they can, because I don’t really know how else you would go about things during a pandemic other than the way they are,” Chapelle said, “but I do feel like there are limitations to living on campus that make it not worth the full price.”
Chapelle says she is most interested to see SCAD’s approach to utilizing vaccination cards as a mode of safety regulation. “I’m personally pro-vax,” Chapelle said, “but I’m wondering if SCAD will enforce things like that and how they’ll go about integrating vaccine requirements into whatever it is they’re doing now.”
Aimee Martins, a first-year dramatic writing student, says she never visited SCAD before (or after) applying. “I’m just really excited about being in the class atmosphere the most honestly,” Martins said. “All of the people that I’ve been meeting [virtually], I’ve been dying to meet [in real life].”
Between incoming first-year students and incoming second-year students, this fall quarter could mean half of our student population may experience their first time on campus.
Fall quarter holds a lot of exciting possibilities, but the reality of COVID-19 hasn’t changed. With Fall quarter still months away, we can all sit back and see how it plays out. In the meantime, current on campus SCAD students are required to continue to complete daily health checks, wear masks and social distance.
