Move-in day at UAlbany: Great Dane traditions, but with masks and sanitizer

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — University at Albany sophomores returned to the Colonial Quad Saturday morning to kick off an unprecedented semester of college.

Students arrived at staggered times, and were checked-in through a “drive-thru,” where they were handed a Great Dane mask and a bottle of hand sanitizer.

Move-in day and orientation are usually filled with reunion hugs between returning students, and sitting cross-legged in a circle for “getting-to-know-you” games. But this year, campus leaders have to get creative to help students connect without spreading illness.

 “Our R.A.’s are still having their section hall meetings and the ice breakers,” said Markus Ricks, Assistant Director for Residential Life on the Colonial Quad, “it’s just in a virtual format [and] in a socially distant setting.”