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Sanjana S. Ramrajvel â22 and her blockmates, who usually live in Dunster House, were dispersed geographically this past academic year. Though long distance placed a strain on their relationships, she said their ties to their Harvard House united them.
âWe all try to make it a point to go to the Dunster trivia nights,â she said. âWe would just all Zoom in from wherever we were, and that was a fun way for us to bond, but I definitely would say that we contacted each other a lot less because we werenât physically in the same location.â
Ramrajvel is one of the many students at the College who opted to live off campus this past academic year, either barred from campus as a result of the public health crisis or opting to avoid the strict residential guidelines for those in the dorms.
Bedecked in House-themed paraphernalia and boasting festive Zoom backgrounds, undergraduates welcomed members of the Class of 2024 to their upperclassmen houses during the Collegeâs second consecutive virtual Housing Day Friday.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Housing Day was a riotous affair replete with house-themed music videos, âdorm-storming,â and house-wide socials. This year, House Committee chairs endeavored to replicate those traditions and implement new ones in a remote setting.
The day commenced with freshmen congregating in a special Housing Day webinar hosted by the Dean of Students Office to chat with House Committee chairs and build anticipation for the imminent unveiling of their housing assignments.
David C. Huang ’24, a freshman who is living on campus this spring, said he is looking forward to the “small things” once the pandemic subsides.
“I want to go into all the buildings for the first time,” he said. “I want to go into Widener. I want to go actually sit in a lecture hall, go into other people s rooms and just hang out.”
Though invited to live on campus last semester, freshmen experienced a far-from-normal first semester of college, marked by regular Covid-19 testing, social distancing protocols, and virtual learning.
When the College announced it would prioritize bringing upperclassmen back to campus for the spring semester, some freshmen petitioned to return to campus, while others opted to stay at home; some flocked to off-campus apartments with newly-made friends.