Thousands of RIT freshmen move in

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Freshmen at RIT were among the first to start moving in at our local colleges.

This comes after a long year of restrictions and requirements due to the pandemic.

“We drove 22 hours, I crossed so many states and it feels amazing I am shaking from how nervous I am but I’m really excited I am very happy,” said freshman Eddie Cordova.

It was a cross-country trip for Eddie Cordova from Miami to Rochester, moving in to start school at RIT.

“I’m very excited to meet new people and meet some of the friends I contacted along the way,” Cordova said.

This year, the school is getting back to some sense of normalcy with a record number of more than 3,260 students from 49 states and 35 foreign countries.

“We did mandate the COVID-19 vaccine and we added it to our list of required immunizations for students and so that will give us a really good start to the year,” said RIT Senior Vice President Sandra Johnson.

Johnson said they are at a 96% vaccination rate, those who aren’t vaccinated will have to undergo weekly testing.

She said while it’s good to see the students, they are following strict masking rules with the growing delta variant.

“We did just recently implement that mandate that individuals indoors when in the presence of others you know not in a private area need to wear a mask, outdoors unvaccinated people need to wear a mask when in the presence of others,” Johnson said.

“I was definitely thinking about wearing masks and who knowing who has the vaccinations here but I think they have it under control now and I’m excited to see it,” said freshman Ella Watts.

Watts comes from Syracuse and said it was a long year with the pandemic but she’s excited to finally start a new chapter.

“It was definitely a relief knowing we’re able to come back in person and move in normally for the most part,” Watts said.

As for faculty, according to RIT President David Munson, nearly 92% of faculty and staff are fully vaccinated.