Campus & Community

For the fourth year, the Source asked a group of first-year students to track their first 40 days on campus, one second of video at a time. They captured walks on campus, Zoom classes and masks — lots and lots of masks. And previous vloggers shared how the COVID crisis has impacted their college careers.

In the past three years, eight students kept a video diary of their first days as first-year students. Find out what has changed for them in the past year.

Andrew Whitaker, a two-sport athlete and a senior biomedical engineering major at the McKelvey School of Engineering, has spent his undergraduate career giving back.

Washington University students are not only excited to vote in the upcoming election, they are stepping up to help others on campus and in the community cast their ballots. Here, three students share how they are getting out the vote.

The Washington University Student Health Ambassador program is a new peer-to-peer initiative designed to protect students from the spread of COVID-19. Students are dispatched daily to locations across campus to remind their peers to wear masks and to confirm students have completed their daily health screenings.

With high hopes and bulk supplies of hand sanitizer, the Class of 2024 arrived at Washington University in St. Louis Sept. 4-6. “This is what we’ve all been waiting for,” said Nick Cloney, an Arts & Sciences student from Boston. “It may not be what we expected. But even in this altered world, we can still have those integral first-year experiences.” 

Across campus, students, faculty and staff are finding creative ways to welcome the Class of 2024 despite ever-evolving public health directives and university policies, said Katharine Pei, director of First Year Programs. There have been calls from WUSAs, peer mentorship programs, Spotify playlists and gooey butter cake. 

Rob Morgan, in Arts & Sciences, shares the story of how he steered the Beyond Boundaries Program — in its first cohort in 2019-2020 — to roll with the challenges of COVID-19. Embracing resiliency and creativity, Morgan and the program pivoted, creating a podcast to bridge the digital divide.

The Trump administration on Tuesday quickly rescinded the July 6 policy directive that would have prohibited international students from being in the United States if all of their classes were online. Washington University supported a lawsuit filed by Harvard and MIT challenging the policy.

Starting July 1, Washington University in St. Louis will offer its students, faculty and staff a new, free phone-based app designed to address and promote personal safety both on and off campus. WashU Safe replaces Noonlight and offers enhanced security features.