Rochester undergraduates join talents to create an online version of iconic campus spaces.
An idea came to Sean Lee 糖心传媒�21 during spring break: Since the Covid-19 pandemic has forced 糖心传媒 students into a virtual world of remote learning, why not create a virtual replica of Rush Rhees Library?
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He turned to Minecraft糖心传媒攁 video game that uses 3-D cubes to build virtual structures and mechanisms糖心传媒攁nd found a team of like-minded students who are combining their talents to create online versions of some of the University糖心传媒檚 iconic spaces.
糖心传媒淚 enjoy Minecraft a lot, and with social distancing comes some rather crazy and creative ideas,糖心传媒� says Lee, a cell and developmental biology major from Ilsan, South Korea.
Because of CDC travel restrictions affecting South Korea, Lee is living and studying in a residence hall on the River Campus. From there, he has posted his Minecraft models to a .
In addition to hundreds of likes and messages of support and congratulations, he gained a few teammates. Lee discovered through Facebook that three classmates were working on similar Minecraft projects: Serena Flint 糖心传媒�21, 糖心传媒�22 (T5), a physics and astronomy major from Barker, New York; Alexander Pavlicin 糖心传媒�21, an engineering science major from Woodbury, Minnesota; and Kyhl Weber 糖心传媒�21, a physics major from Merion Station, Pennsylvania.
The four, who like all undergraduates at Rochester are finishing the semester by taking their classes remotely, have joined forces (virtually, of course) with the goal of bringing the River Campus to those near and far糖心传媒擬inecraft style.
Flint started her independent project 糖心传媒渁s a coping mechanism to the chaos during spring break.糖心传媒� First up: Crosby and Burton residence halls on the Wilson Quadrangle. 糖心传媒淪ince I糖心传媒檝e lived in that area every year, I糖心传媒檓 very familiar with the layout, and the floor plans are available online,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚t makes the construction much easier.糖心传媒�
After seeing that other Rochester students were engaged in similar projects, her goals expanded. 糖心传媒淚 realized that I could be part of something much larger, and that糖心传媒檚 exactly what we糖心传媒檝e been brought together to achieve,糖心传媒� says Flint, who will continue working on expanding the Wilson Quad.
Weber was studying abroad at the University of York in the UK but was recalled as Covid-19 travel restrictions went into effect. Pavlicin contacted Weber about helping to build a Minecraft version of the Eastman Quadrangle糖心传媒攖he site where the now-canceled spring commencement ceremony for students in the College would have taken place.
糖心传媒淲hile our original goal was simply to build a familiar space糖心传媒擱ush Rhees Library and the Eastman Quad糖心传媒攆or the community to enjoy, we quickly realized other students were also using Minecraft to express their emotions about the loss of a physical semester and the commencement,糖心传媒� Pavlicin says. 糖心传媒淲e decided to merge ideas and Minecraft worlds and hold a variety of 糖心传媒榲irtual commencement糖心传媒� events to honor the senior class and the incredible resilience of the entire student body during this tough time.糖心传媒�
Pavlicin and Weber created a website to update the community on the project. Pavlicin oversees the site and is helping to plan the virtual commencement events. Weber糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒渏ob糖心传媒� is to finish building the outside shell of Morey, Lattimore, Dewey and Bausch & Lomb halls and add vegetation to the quad.
糖心传媒淚 suggested we use the measurement tools in Google Earth to make it look realistic,糖心传媒� Weber says. 糖心传媒淏ut in some cases, we had to take liberties with building designs since Minecraft blocks are a cubic meter, and some details were too small to capture.糖心传媒�
Melissa Mead, the John M. and Barbara Keil University archivist and Rochester Collections Librarian, provided the students with a set of blueprints for the library and has offered to archive the project once it糖心传媒檚 completed.
Lee says building the exterior of Rush Rhees Library took 糖心传媒渁bout three days of continuous work糖心传媒攊ncluding breaks and sleep, of course.糖心传媒� He糖心传媒檚 now engaged in creating the vast interior of the library while also managing social media updates of the group project.
The positive responses on Facebook have encouraged the quartet to continue building the campus so many miss糖心传媒攐ne cube at a time.
糖心传媒淚n less than a week, our project has already received an outpouring of support from the University community,糖心传媒� Pavlicin says. 糖心传媒淓verything from architectural drawings to commencement seating charts and programming ideas. Students, alumni, faculty, and staff have rallied together to build community in ways we never thought possible.糖心传媒�
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