Improving Trinity Residential Communities: How To Promote Safe Socialization in the Age of COVID-19

Anika Fiore ’24

Contributing Writer

Ubiquitous to any modern college experience, being a student on the Trinity campus amidst COVID-19 is, without a doubt, a difficult time to be in. Overall, many students feel that their residential communities have handled COVID-19 quite well. One psychology major believes that Trinity “ha[s] found a good balance with regulating COVID-19 levels while avoiding the invasion of the residents’ personal spaces.” Trinity does do a good job, however most of the COVID-19 responsibilities are in the hands of students.

It is an important job for us to keep the cases low. Looking more closely at the Trinity residential dorms, some believe that the dorms are a great way to connect with people in COVID-19 safely, but others have different opinions. An undeclared freshman remarked that “A lot of students bonded on their own, especially in my own hall. Some RAs did activities, but a lot of halls are very disconnected.” It is evident that the closeness and connectedness of residential communities differ greatly from dorm to dorm. This difference has a great impact on the college experience of on-campus students.

Trinity residential communities have persevered through this by interacting through the community rooms in each of the dorms. These common rooms facilitate a COVID-safe environment to hang out with your friends or people you have not met before. They provide a place where students can cook, play games, do work, and just talk with one another about their day. Another way people were able to socialize was through hall meetings in which they played games and participated in different activities at the beginning of the year. Other individuals feel that this is not enough because, as mentioned above, not everyone’s halls are as connected as others. 

Several individuals of various class standings, especially freshmen, feel that Trinity should come up with a pod system so that you can hang out with friends and classmates in your residential communities in a safe, pandemic-friendly way. As students on campus remain cautious of the current state of COVID-19, many find it hard to socialize in COVID-19 safe ways, especially in those residential halls that are not as close.

One idea discussed by students is to come up with a pod system that would allow kids to interact in their own small bubbles without having to be anxious about COVID-19 restrictions. This would also allow them to interact with individuals in the Trinity community that they may have never had the opportunity to interact with before. There are concerns with a pod system though, mainly the difficulty in its implementation. Perhaps more virtual events led and created by the students would also be an efficient way to connect individuals in their own and other residential communities. 

Overall, Trinity and the students on campus have done a good job handling COVID-19 within the residential communities. Several students feel that Trinity, both the school and the individual students on-campus, have improved greatly in maintaining a COVID-safe environment in the residential communities compared to the first semester. Students, especially this semester, have realized how lucky we are to be on campus which motivates us further to maintain patience and keep cases low during our time here. All students are excited for the future Trinity, where students can fulfill the typical college experience while feeling safe to fully participate in the community.