Students are arriving back to area colleges for the fall semester.

What You Need To Know

  • New York State has a travel advisory in effect for 34 states and Puerto Rico, which requires a mandatory 14 day quarantine upon arrival

  • Siena College was preparing for students to arrive from states on that list the last week of July, setting up a specific dorm for them, and readying rooms with sheets, mini-fridges and microwaves

  • Several students are already on campus from multiple different states, but some are at different points in their quarantine

Meredith McElroy, a junior from the Raleigh, North Carolina area is one of them.  

North Carolina is one of 34 states, plus Puerto Rico, on the state's restricted travel list.

McElroy's been in quarantine since she arrived back on campus at Siena College nearly two weeks ago and shared what the experience has been like via Zoom.

"This is the humble beginnings of a gratitude wall, one little slip every day, that's kind of what's been carrying me through every day for now," McElroy said.

McElroy was the first student to arrive back on campus on July 29. As an orientation leader, she had to get back early, but also had to quarantine due to New York's executive order.

"The first few days were definitely the hardest ones, just because the initial feeling of being back on campus was awesome," McElroy said. "I haven't been here, obviously since March, but it was just weird to know that I was just in the building, I'm not going anywhere. I'm usually a busy bee when I'm on campus."

McElroy and one other student will complete their quarantines this week and McElroy's roommate moves in on Thursday. Unlike some others on campus early to quarantine, McElroy is in the dorm room she'll stay in for the year. Most other students will move to other dorms, but right now, everyone is sequestered in Snyder Hall.

Students who will move when their 14 days are complete, just brought the essentials to their temporary stay rooms, while the rest of their belongings went to their permanent dorms. The rooms were outfitted several weeks ago by Siena staff with sheets, microwaves and mini-fridges.

McElroy says she's lucky since she's quarantined in her permanent dorm, so she's spent the last 12 days decorating her room, catching up on Netflix and more.

"A lot of like, on the phone with friends and family, just catching up," McElroy said. "Just kind of setting a routine for myself, too. One of the other things, I've chatted with some other people who are in quarantine too and we've all said, one of the things is if you don't get out of bed and have breakfast at your desk, and you're just sitting around in your pajamas all day, then it feels a lot more sluggish."

How does she eat? The school delivers food to students' doors each night with dinner, meals for the following day and snacks. McElroy says she's carved out time and space in her room to eat, work out and do other things she enjoys.

"I'm a big crafter and painter, so we've kind of got that area over here," she said. "I've been painting basically every day just to pass the time, which has been good."

And McElroy says Siena created safe opportunities for students quarantining to go outside twice, for socially distanced, masked-up time to socialize.

"They had some chairs six feet apart, they just asked people who had roommates only stay close to their roommate, they're doing it by floor, which is fun," McElroy said. "So I've met other people on either side of me and across the hall, so we just kind of circled up and were chatting about the experience, where everyone's from."

And during that time, they've had a chance to beat the heat.

"The first day we were able to go outside was this past Thursday and Rachel Jones who's the director of food here on campus, she brought everyone ice cream," McElroy said. "It was so nice to have ice cream in the middle of the day outside. It felt a little more normal."

This experience is something McElroy, a psychology major, says she'll never forget. Especially meeting new people on campus going through the same thing, who she may have otherwise not gotten a chance to know.

When her two weeks is up on Wednesday, she's most looking forward to creating a great orientation experience, particularly for incoming freshman, her roommate's arrival on Thursday and says she can't wait to get out and be able to walk around campus to see her professors and other staff.

"It's really the way that you look at it. If I had been negative about this experience, I think it would've seemed a lot longer and a lot worse," McElroy said. "But I'm happy that I've been able to connect with other people and just have good friends and family who are checking in on me, people from the college checking in on me every day, which is awesome."

Siena College has multiple move-in days this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Students will move in August 21 through 23 and the semester will end before students leave for Thanksgiving break.