August 21, 2020
To All New Students,
Your arrival date to Gould is fast approaching, and we cannot wait to see you here on campus.
You likely have many questions about what to expect and if you haven’t heard from your advisor yet, you should in the very near future. The purpose of this letter is to give you a quick rundown of what to expect on your orientation trip.
You will register at your assigned time on August 31. Please remember to bring a Negative Covid-19 Test result with you. After the registration process is complete, you will join your trip leaders at an assigned location on campus. During the day, you will set up your Gould computer to prepare for your classes, and you will review the things you need for your orientation trip. Your trip leaders will help you find anything that you might be missing from the list. There is no need to buy a camp chair, hammock, or tent, but if you have one, bring it along. It may come in handy on your trip, and we will check it out to make sure it will be ok to bring based on your trip.
You will eat meals at designated times with your group. At the end of Registration Day (August 31), day students will return home and boarding students will head to bed.
On September 1, you will meet up with your group and trip leaders for breakfast and spend the morning wrapping up any last details. After lunch, you will depart in Gould transportation to your orientation trip location. All will need to be masked while traveling in the vehicle. Groups will be doing a variety of activities over the next few days — hiking, canoeing, swimming, relaxing, having great discussions, and learning a lot about each other and Gould.
Most groups will be base-camping at one location and doing day trips from there. Groups will continue to hand wash, physically distance, and mask up when a distance of 6 feet cannot be maintained in the outdoor environment. Sleeping arrangements will be de-densified appropriately in a variety of ways. Some groups will have open-air tent cabins, tarps, individual tents, and hammocks to sleep in. All food will be provided, and preparation and serving of the food will be monitored carefully by the trip leaders.
On September 5, you will return to campus before lunch, de-issue any borrowed gear, and then have a short break before the All-School Orientation begins after lunch. You will remain with your small groups for the rest of Orientation and for some virtual all-school assemblies.
We will administer a second COVID test before classes begin. Once all test results are in, classes will begin to happen in person, although students will participate remotely on some days to allow for adequate spacing in the classroom. Until that point, most meetings will happen virtually and with your orientation group.
Please reach out with any questions.
See you all soon!
