Ready for the big move

Ready for the big move

By Phil Gaudreau

August 31, 2017

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[Move-In Day]
Students move in to Victoria Hall last September. (Supplied photo)

Eight hours. Dozens of Queen’s, City of Kingston, and Kingston police employees. Nearly 1,000 volunteers. Thousands of students and their families – and, of course, their boxes, electronics, and personal effects.

Residence Move-In Day 2017 is Sunday, Sept. 3. For more than 4,200 first-year Queen’s University students, this will be the beginning of their academic journey as they settle into the rooms that will be their home for the year ahead. And a team of representatives from Queen’s, the City of Kingston, and Kingston Police have been meeting regularly since the spring to plan out this year’s move-in day to make it as smooth as possible.

“We are looking forward to welcoming all new Queen’s students to campus,” says Ann Tierney, Vice-Provost and Dean of Student Affairs. “As in previous years, we are working closely with our community partners to ensure a smooth a transition on what will be a busy day on and around campus. We thank all of our staff and volunteers who work so hard to make this a great day for our new students and their families.”

The Plan

Queen’s Residences assigns a morning or afternoon move-in time to each resident, based on their room number, and provides colour-coded directions to each building zone to help families navigate through construction, re-routed streets and lineups – ensuring a steady flow of cars into the streets surrounding campus.

To minimize the number of cars that need to be towed to keep traffic moving, volunteers will be ensuring that a driver stays with each car at all times so that it can be quickly moved to a parking lot.

Additionally, traffic patterns are being adjusted to account for construction in Kingston’s downtown on streets such as Division, a major route for traffic coming off Hwy. 401.

“Move-In Day is both exciting and busy,” says Kate Murray, Director, Residence Life. “With all of our amazing staff and volunteers, we’re confident that we’ll get everyone moved in and ready for University Orientation.”

Move-in begins at 8 am, with families saying farewell to students by noon for odd-numbered residence floors. For those on even numbered floors, move-in begins at 12:30 pm and concludes by 4 pm, when students join their floor mates for their first floor meeting.

While move-in is happening, family members are invited to attend sessions at 10:30 am or 2 pm in Grant Hall on main campus, and 12:30 pm in Jean Royce Hall, Room C140, on west campus. These sessions provide information about university life and services, and will be staffed by key campus contacts who can answer questions about fees, meal plans and academic accommodations. Resource tables will be staffed all day at both locations with lots of take-away materials, and free coffee.

Did you know?
...research shows students who live in residence perform better academically.
...Queen’s operates 17 residence buildings, ranging from small buildings housing 68 students to larger halls with nearly 800 students. Each residence unique in size, rooms and amenities – some have retail food outlets, others have interesting study and lounge spaces.
...Ban Righ is the oldest residence, built in 1925, while Brant and Smith are the newest, built in 2015.
...Almost every room in Waldron Tower has a view of Lake Ontario.
...Jean Royce Hall on the west campus has its own fitness room and theatre room.
...Queen’s guarantees a residence spot to all first-year students who apply and pay a deposit by a deadline.

Getting Around

For anyone not participating in move-in day, it is recommended you avoid coming to campus on Sunday, Sept. 3. There will be street re-directions, road closures and overnight parking restrictions in effect beginning the night before.

Bader Lane will close Saturday, Sept. 2 at 6 pm to provide for one-way traffic westbound. As of 7 am on Sunday, Sept. 3:

  • Albert Street will be designated one-way southbound from Queen’s Crescent to King Street
  • Stuart Street will be designated one-way westbound from University Albert
  • St. Lawrence Avenue will be designated one-way southbound from Stuart Street to King Street
  • Queen’s Crescent will be closed at Beverly Street and Collingwood Street.
  • Collingwood Street will be designated one-way southbound from Union Street to King Street.
  • Arch Street will be closed at Union Street
  • George Street will be closed
  • O’Kill Street will be designated one-way eastbound from George Street to Barrie Street.
  • University Avenue will be designated one-way southbound from Union Street to Stuart Street.

Road closures will end just after 4 pm on Sept. 3.

To view the traffic flow patterns, please visit the Residence Life website. Digital copies of the move-in map are being provided to all students.

Employees are asked not to park on campus on Sunday, Sept. 3 or the night before.

2017 Residence Move-in Day traffic map
The 2017 residence move-in traffic map (Supplied photo)

More Information

For more information on move-in day, visit the Queen’s Residences move-in webpage.