CWU’s “Welcome Weekend” returned two weeks ago as all on-campus residents moved into their dorms. After a lack of the event in 2020 due to COVID-19, Housing and Residence Life staff members worked to provide a safe, enjoyable transition to new and returning students. 

Tricia Rabel, the executive director for Housing and Residence Life oversees CWU’s 22 residence halls and five apartment complexes, as well as the 30 professional staff and 95 student employees.

Rabel said that in years prior, staff would move in around 2,800 students in one day, but due to COVID-19 related mandates, this year the process was stretched out over three days: Sept. 16, 17 and 18.

Serena Thompson is a fifth year elementary education major, as well as a senior Resident’s Assistant. She serves as an SRA for Kennedy Hall, where she’s also a resident, as well as Alford Montgomery Hall and Green Hall. This is her third year working for the Housing and Residence Life office.

“Move-in went well! It was nice to meet residents from all the buildings and to work with multiple members of my team at once,” Thompson said. 

She said while she misses the all-in-one move-in day, she remembers her first year as an RA and how busy and slightly stressful it all was.

Rabel said that while past move-in’s have had a sort of “red carpet feeling,” she thinks after the secluded year many students have had, a more mellow version of the event was helpful.

“I think it took the intensity out for students and families,” Rabel said. “Especially folks that have been through 18 months of a pandemic.”

She said that the transition from living at home to living alone for the first time can be stressful, especially after the year we’ve had. She said moving forward, they might consider some of these things when planning Move-in Weekend.

Thompson also said she was happy to see less stress in her residents than in years prior.

“I enjoyed that people were not overwhelmed with the amount of things going on,” Thompson said. “It was good that people and times they came to move in because it lessened the stress for the RA’s, the residents, the people that were managing the parking and the people that were coming in and out of the building.”

Overall, Thompson said she’s just happy to have everyone back, and is excited for the coming school year.

“Now that we are back in person, I am looking forward to actually walking to class, seeing people around campus, being able to eat with people in the SURC,” Thompson said. “In the halls, I am excited to see people hanging out in the lounges, seeing people cooking in the kitchen, leaving their doors open and hearing music playing throughout the halls. As cheesy as it sounds, I am just excited for the little things that come from having residents in the halls.”