WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.-- A first-year student is making good use of his time away from campus amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Declan Sander was disappointed when his freshman year was cut short. Once he moved back home to Hendersonville, he found a lot more time on his hands. Sander rediscovered a video game he hadn't played since high school.

Sander began building his home away from home on Minecraft. He constructed replicas of Reynolda Hall, Benson University Center and the Reynolds Library all within the last six weeks.

"Having left this place I considered home for a sizeable portion of my year, it just sort of seemed like something I wanted to do," he says.

All the buildings are built to scale. In the game, each block equals one cubic meter. Sander uses Google Maps to calculate the distance between buildings.

Family and friends have encouraged him to keep building. He's even had some help from the university.

"The university has been really, really helpful and helping me get floor plans so I can get things like interiors done because that's been my main challenge so far, but there's been no way to find out what a building looks like on the inside and I really want this to be as accurate as I can," he says.

Sander estimates it will take around four months to build the entire campus. His sister Eliza has helped him fill out grass squares and windows.

When the virtual campus is all done, Minecraft users will be able to download it and explore it for themselves.