Quarantine Bags: Party for One

Quarantine Bags: Party for One

By Makenna Hill

Staff Writer

Due to social distancing standards resulting from COVID-19, members of the Office of Campus Life have created and delivered quarantine bags full of items to help Cameron students pass the time.

Director of Campus Life Dr. Leslie Cothren has been an important part of the creation of the quarantine bags.

She said the idea came from student feedback provided by Student Services.

“It was probably a month or so into school,” Cothren said. “We had quite a few students in quarantine… when we talked to them, we kind of realized they were really bored.”

Campus Life decided they wanted to help eliminate some of that boredom.

Cothren said the bags include things for entertainment as well as snacks.

“I went to the dollar store, and we got some crayons … we’ve got coloring books, we’ve got some pencils and a sharpener,” Cothren said.

“There’s sudoku pages and kid stuff, basically … there’s some snacks in there, as well, because … you always need snacks.”

Cothren said, after the first week, Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) reached out to Campus Life to become involved with the project and started by providing additional bags for the second week of quarantine.

“BCM reached out to us … and they were like ‘hey, what can we do to help with this?’” Cothren said.

“They [BCM] write handwritten notes for the students to kind of encourage them, which is super nice.”

The Office of Campus Life and BCM have given out approximately 65 quarantine bags since October 2020.

Cothren encouraged students who have been in quarantine to leave suggestions of what they would have liked to see in the bags.

Cothren said students can also get involved in other Campus Life events, even if students are not physically on campus and are not able to go to the Office of Campus Life in person.

“We’re doing lots of stuff for every student this year,” Cothren said. “We’re mailing lots of stuff out if you just reply and request … that’s one of the ways we can connect them.”

For more information or to leave suggestions, contact the Office of Campus Life at (580) 581-2217 or email campuslife@cameron.edu.

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