By Victoria Surla
From meeting your first roommate to learning how to do your own laundry, no one ever truly forgets their first year spent living in residence. As an opportunity to learn, network, and meet new people, on-campus living provides students with a sense of belongingness as they transition into their post-secondary careers. Many of the common rituals of residence life, however, have been restructured this year in respect to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With cases on the rise throughout the Greater Toronto Area, George Brown College’s (GBC) residence services are adamant about ensuring that proper social distancing measures are being followed, according to residence life coordinator Molly Smith.
“Our job is to build community and we’re used to doing that by in-person programming, and your usual movie nights, and craft nights, and stuff like that together, so I think the real challenge is trying to move it all online where it still seems fun and inviting,” said Smith.
According to Smith, these social distancing measures include a no roommate policy, mask requirements in all public areas, designated kitchen times limited to one person at a time, and separation markers along the hallway floors leading towards the elevators. No visitors are allowed inside the building, laundry rooms have capacity limits, and almost all communal activities are conducted online. Only three people are allowed per elevator ride, and whilst students are permitted to visit each other’s rooms, gatherings are limited to a number of six.
“I don’t think there’s much socializing going on,” says Xueqiong Cheng, an international student studying baking and pastry arts who lives at the George, GBC’s student residence.
For Cheng, who requires a kitchen to complete most of her assignments, booking kitchen times has been challenging.
“I am a baking student, so I have to use the kitchen regularly, so the booking system is kind of frustrating sometimes. But the [residence] gave us one kitchen just for culinary and baking students, so when we want to use it, we can just go to the front desk and ask for the keys.”
Cheng says that although social distancing policies remain in effect, there are still some opportunities to interact online with one another.
According to Smith, the residence teams are doing the best they can to welcome new students into the GBC community.
“We have a great team this year,” said Smith. “Everybody’s super creative and innovative and we’ve all been doing our best. I might be biased, but I think we’ve come out with some pretty awesome programs so I’m glad to see that it’s working, but it was my biggest concern coming into the year, still wanting to make it as inviting as possible.”
Out of all students living in residence at George Brown College, about 30 per cent of them are international. Smith says that the pandemic has been challenging for everyone, so it was important to ensure that students felt as comfortable as possible entering into the experience.
“It still feels isolating for everyone because everything is so different. We wanted to make sure that we had a sense of community for everybody living here.”
As many elements continue to remain uncertain amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Cheng says that there are many things she feels like she has to be concerned about all at once.
“Now, there’s a lot of uncertainty and a lot of things going on at the same time. Like, we don’t only need to deal with our own issues in this but it’s kind of a pressuring environment for everyone. So, it can be overwhelming at times,” she said.
Seeing the GBC logo in residence every day, however, helps her remember what she is here for.
“Because I can see the school logo every time I leave the building, for me, living in the residence gives me more of a kind of study vibe.”
GBC residences continue to follow all social distancing protocols until further notice.
