RIT Ready crew offers friendly safety reminders and positive reinforcement

Wearing masks, daily health screenings, and physical distancing have become the norm on the Rochester Institute of Technology campus this semester. But a team of 20 RIT Ready crew members, passionate about keeping the RIT community safe, has been roaming around making sure students, faculty, and staff don’t get complacent about COVID-19 safely guidelines.

“Almost everyone appreciates us and tries to support us,” said Saksham Mittal, a third-year mechanical engineering technology major from India.

The team members usually travel in pairs throughout campus, from Global Village to residence halls.

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Josie Zhou

Saksham Mittal, left, a third-year mechanical engineering technology major from India, and Lib Stublen, a third-year photographic sciences major from Richmond, Va., are members of the RIT Ready crew.

“We try to make it a more informal and a two-sided interaction that will make them smile and remind them to follow the rules,” said Chahana Suresh, a master’s student in applied statistics, from India. “The Health Promotion Department made signs that we hold up for us to be easily identified as well as get more coverage during busy traffic hours.”

She said fewer violations are found as time goes on. “Those who are not compliant have often forgotten or are embarrassed for being called out and immediately follow the policies,” Suresh said. “So most of our shifts have been thanking and appreciating efforts, which has been a great mood up-lifter not only for them but also for us.”

Along with their signs of encouragement, which say things like “Ask us about COVID-19 policies, we are here to help” and “Thank you for doing your part to keep our campus safe,” are life-sized cutouts of Ritchie and a masked RIT President David Munson. The team offers praise, hands out prizes including T-shirts or packages of tissues, and occasionally reminds people to pull a mask over their noses or not to eat while walking.

In one exercise, students are asked 10 questions in the mask/no mask game such as, “If you are walking to a class with a friend, do you wear a mask?” (yes) or “If you are sitting alone in Infinity Quad eating lunch, do you wear a mask?” (no, as long as you are stationary).

“A lot of people get them all right,” Mittal said.

He interacts with about 100 people per shift and focuses his route near the residence halls, where he reports almost everyone wears a mask. “Some people may have missed their daily health screening, so we remind them to do to that,” Mittal said. And as Halloween approached, he reminded them not to share food or attend large gatherings.

“It’s really fun. I get to be on campus and interact with people,” he said. “I’m making a difference and meeting people from all sorts of cultures and majors.”

Briana Davis, a second-year ASL-English interpretation major from Long Island, said she’s also found almost everyone complying with the guidelines on campus, only occasionally having to remind someone to pull up a mask over their nose, or keep six feet from others, especially while walking on the Quarter Mile.

“Typically people don’t respond or they will just say ‘no problem’ or give a thumbs up,” she said.

Members of the RIT Ready crew are paid for their work, and they enjoy the personal satisfaction of helping people stay safe as well.

“I applied for this job because I wanted to be more involved on campus and I also did not want to have to go home early again,” Davis said. “I want to be able to help and be part of the reason RIT is so successful in keeping our cases low.”

Suresh agrees.

“I decided to join the RIT Ready team because I want to make the campus safe again for me and every other student to continue to add to our memories made on campus and enjoy every last bit of our student life,” she said. “The job is a lot of fun and also acts as a bonus as I am able to get in some extra steps for the day!”

Health Promotion Coordinator Sara Engel said discussions are being held to see whether the RIT Ready team will be activated in the spring semester.