COVID-19 Safe Activities to do Off Campus

Source: "Winnakee Nature Preserve" by TheTurducken is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Warm weather is quickly approaching and, unfortunately, COVID-19 remains a threat. While we all hope for surges to disappear, college students are looking for opportunities to make the most out of the semester. Many options already exist on campus like trips to the river, a run or walk with your housemates/pod or a drive through the campus community, windows down and radio up. 

However, if you are up for a change of scenery, there’s a variety of activities to do off campus safely. Students can go to the Walkway over the Hudson located right in Poughkeepsie, or enjoy a picnic outside the Vanderbilt Mansion, in Rhinebeck, or in Mesier Park in Wappingers Falls.

Besides picnics and the walkway, the Hudson Valley is a home to numerous hiking trails that are perfect for the springtime. Some of these hiking spots include:

• Wappinger Creek Greenway Trail; Poughkeepsie, New York 

• Roosevelt Farm Lane Trail; Hyde Park, New York

• Winnakee Nature Preserve; Hygge Park, New York

• River-to-Ridge Trail; New Paltz, New York

Doing the best we can for the community around us is the most important thing to remember. Find safe activities to do to fill up your day; have a book unrelated to school that you have been wanting to finish? Now is the time to pick it up and read it! In need of some motivation to workout but disappointed in the gym closure? Go on YouTube and find your next free workout program obsession. Some recommended workout channels are: Madfit, Chloe Ting, BullyJuice and Jordan Yeoh Fitness. 

I believe the Marist community, as well as every other student globally, can agree that this was not how many imagined “the best years of our lives,” would go. Making the most out of it, however, is the best we can all do right now.