Special Delivery

Students who recently arrived to campus for the spring semester got a special delivery this week when campus police helped them weather a major snow storm by bringing meals to the residence halls.

With winds blowing and heavy snow falling on February 1, it was nearly impossible for about 120 students who live in the Freeman, Russ and Sinatra residence halls to get to campus dining, says Karen L. Pennington, vice president for Student Development and Campus Life. “Our police were the only ones who could get through and get through safely.”

As Facilities’s crews were digging out 20 inches of snow on February 2 (and yes, the groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter), campus police continued to bring meals as dining services connected students with an app to have meals delivered to their halls.

“We had to try to do something quickly for those students on meal plans,” Pennington says. “The campus police were gracious enough to use their vehicles and themselves to deliver food so that we could make sure that students were taken care of.”

All together, about 1,300 students have already arrived to live on campus, many out-of-state students who, following COVID-19 safety protocols, moved in two weeks before classes resume on February 8.

Cooks and dining staff also stayed in residence halls during the storm. “That was a huge help. It kept our team on campus so they could open our dining hall on time and feed our students,” says James Robinson, director of Dining and ID Card Services.”

“We do our best,” says Pennington, “and in tough times you have to rise to the occasion. I’m happy to say our food service people and our police did just that.”

Story by staff writer Marilyn Joyce Lehren