No previous move-in day in the 139-year history of UConn has featured quite so many students, parents, staff members, administrators, and others wearing masks – but then, this is not a semester like any other in our history.

The challenges faced by higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic are well-known by now – and there’s a wealth of resources available online detailing how UConn plans to keep our community safe – and they were in evidence on Friday, Aug. 14, 2020, as nearly 5,800 students moved in their new homes for fall in Storrs and Stamford.

But once all the strange features of this unfathomable year were out of the way – the testing, the temperature checks, the distribution of face coverings – what remained was a complicated set of emotions that would be just as familiar to Huskies in the 1880s, the 1970s, or last year: pride, excitement, nerves, the bittersweet feeling parents have when seeing their children take the first, firm steps toward independence. This may not be how anyone imagined starting the academic year, but the feeling across the University on Friday was: we’re here, and we’re going to make the best of it.

In this gallery by University Photographer Peter Morenus, the unique characteristics of the day are readily apparent, but so are the feelings of new beginnings and determination that mark the start of every fall semester: