Pods on the Quad
First-year students gathered on the Quad this evening in groups of 10-12 students and met other first-year students.
The event was hosted by Quinnipiac’s Chief Experience Officer Tom Ellett and was called, ‘Pods on the Quad’. First-year students were put into groups led by numerous orientation leaders.
“I thought it was a great way to try to engage first-year students at the end of their first week and using phenomenal orientation leaders to reunion with the students that they had met during orientation,” Ellet said.
With all the guidelines in place surrounding on-campus residential halls this was a time where students could meet other students from different residential halls or students from different floors.
“I feel like this year definitely it’s been a lot harder to meet new people so this is a good way to get out there and see new people.” Olivia Fountaine Class of 2024 said.
This fall semester residential hall guidelines are stricter due to COVID-19. Only students living in certain residence halls are allowed in and, there is a limit on how many visitors in each room or suite.
Meeting new students has been different this year but events like this help encourage students to leave their room and social distance among there peers.
“I was really excited about it [Quads on the Pod] because I wasn’t sure if we were even allowed to be on the quad with all the regulations and stuff, and honestly it’s been a little hard meeting people just because of everything that’s going on, so I was really excited for this experience to get to know people.” Maddie Noel Class of 2024 said.
In the future, Ellet plans to do more events like this one and bring together more of the Quinnipiac community.
“We’d like to do one with alumni coming back by industry, we’d like to do one with faculty, [the first-year writing faculty], and others,” Ellett said. “Hopefully we can use this quad, this is not a place to walk across for no reason but, it’s a great place to walk across when you’re meeting new people.”
