PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — College students are packing up and moving into schools like Temple University this week, all amidst the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Temple staff started welcoming more than 5,000 new students to their North Philadelphia campus, knowing that all those students and the university's faculty will need to be fully vaccinated come mid-October.
With help from her mom and dad, Lilly Bernard unloaded her clothes, accessories and face masks from the family SUV to her new dorm room at Temple.
"I'm so excited to meet new people and start class," Lilly said.
Lilly, an incoming freshman from Wallingford, said she's okay with the University's decision to have students and faculty vaccinated and masked up in most places, and send their vaccination card to a digital database.
"It makes me feel pretty good," she said.
"It makes me feel pretty confident that I can come and I can be safe, and I can get an education and still feel safe."
Her father Matthew Bernard had some jitters that most parents would when sending their child off to school, but he's happy that Lilly is able to have this experience.
"I'm just glad they're in-person and able to move in, after all we've been through over the last year-and-a-half," he said.
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Matthew is keeping his fingers crossed that students will be able to continue in-person learning through the upcoming semesters, something that did not happen last year.
"We'll be ready to pivot, if need be," he said.
Temple officials said they currently have a nearly 80% vaccination rate for students and faculty.