Fall 2021

A Framework for the Fall Semester at Heritage

Updated September 2, 2021

Welcome to Heritage this September!

We are excited to see our college and seminary students on campus this Fall and are looking forward to seeing how God will work in and through the Heritage community this academic year.

As the situation surrounding COVID-19 changes, we have been working diligently to come up with a framework for the Fall Semester that will provide a safe and supportive learning environment for the students, staff, and faculty of Heritage.

Out of this desire to foster a positive learning experience for all our students on-campus, Heritage has established the following framework for the upcoming semester.

Vaccines at Heritage College & Seminary

In response to the latest requirements established for all post-secondary institutions in Ontario by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities and the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health on Tuesday, August 31, 2021, Heritage College & Seminary will be moving forward with a campus-wide COVID-19 Vaccination Policy.

As of September 7, 2021, the policy will require that all College and Seminary students, staff, and faculty at Heritage College & Seminary personally attest to or provide official Provincially approved proof of whether they have:

Received a full vaccination against COVID-19;
Have not received the COVID-19 vaccine;
Have an approved medical reason for not being vaccinated against COVID-19; or
Wish not to disclose their vaccination status.

Students, faculty, and staff at Heritage who disclose that they are not vaccinated, wish to not disclose their vaccination status, or have received a medical reason for not being vaccinated against COVID-19 will still be able to live and study on campus, but will have to:

Submit to taking regular antigen point of care testing for COVID-19 at least once every seven days and provide weekly verification of test results.
Participate in a COVID-19 Vaccination Information Session provided by Heritage.

For more details, click here.

Classes will be Held On-Campus This Fall

Starting in September, Heritage will have classes offered on-campus and in person while following all active public health guidelines for our region and in the province.

Classes on campus will be offered for both Heritage College and Heritage Theological Seminary students.
All the classrooms at Heritage will be outfitted this Fall to offer a new hybrid, livestream options for our in-person classes. Students will be able to connect with live classes as they happen, while being able to engage with the professors and students during the class.
Eating in classrooms will continue to be prohibited to students.
All students will be required to wear appropriate face masks while participating in a class.

Masks Are Required on Campus

Following the requirements of the Province and our Regional officials, Heritage will continue to require all students, staff, and faculty to wear appropriate face masks while in common use indoor spaces.

All members of the Heritage community are required to wear masks while inside both the Academic Building and the Heritage Community Centre.

Students living in residence will be required to wear masks when inside the buildings while in the hallways, laundry room, common rooms during gatherings, and other common areas. Masks can be removed when a student enters their designated apartment.

Members of the Heritage community will not be required to wear masks while outside on campus grounds while practicing physical distancing.

A mask must be always worn inside Heritage buildings, with the following exceptions:

When eating or drinking.
While working out in the fitness centre or engaging in approved activities in the Gym.
When staff and faculty are working within a single-person indoor space like an office.
In a personal vehicle by themselves.

Swipe Card Building Access

To maintain the safety of the Heritage community and help facilitate contact tracing on campus, Heritage will continue to require all to use swipe cards to both enter and exit all campus buildings.

Only people with assigned swipe cards will be to have access to buildings during approved hours. All other people requesting entry into buildings during hours of operation will have to ring the doorbell located at the front doors of the Academic Building and wait for administrative support.

All students, staff, and faculty will receive a scan card. On campus residence students will receive their card when they move in. Off-campus students, staff, and faculty will be required to request a swipe card by emailing the main office at info@heritagecs.edu.

What Swiping My Card Means

Each time you use your swipe card, you are confirming that you completed a personal self-assessment to conclude that you are feeling well and not displaying any of the common symptoms of COVID-19.

All are encouraged to evaluate their health regularly by using Ontario’s COVID-19 Self- Assessment tool at covid-19.ontario.ca/self-assessment.

Symptoms include:

Fever or chills
Cough
Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
Sore throat, trouble swallowing
Runny/Stuffy Nose
Decrease or loss of taste or smell
Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
Not feeling well, extreme tiredness, sore muscles.

Off-Campus Student Access to Buildings

All off-campus students enrolled in studies at Heritage are welcome to use the accessible spaces and services offered inside the Academic Building and the Heritage Community Centre during operating hours.

Students who reside off-campus will have to follow the same requirements of students who live on-campus while inside approved buildings including wearing masks and maintaining physical distance.

Off-campus students will also still be able to participate in student activities and events throughout the academic year.

Access to both Residence Buildings will be prohibited to all off-campus students.

Visitors to Heritage

This Fall, Heritage College & Seminary is excited to welcome back guests to our campus grounds.

All guests to Heritage will be required to scan a QR Code located at all the main doors of the Heritage Community Centre and Academic Building and fill out a Visitor Screening Assessment Form before entering the buildings.
Through this form, all guests will be required to provide their name, date on campus, reason they are visiting, contact information, and complete a questionnaire about their health upon entering campus.
Each visitor will also have to acknowledge that they agree to follow all campus protocols while on campus.
Visitors on campus will be welcome to connect with the Heritage community in The Heritage Community Centre and Academic Building.
Visitors will not be permitted to enter Residence Buildings while on campus.

Student Life

Residence Life

To provide a safe residence experience for our students while fostering a health community on campus, Heritage has established the following guidelines for Residence Life at Heritage.

Gatherings Within Residence Buildings

Residence students will be permitted to socialize indoors within their own building – Men in North Hall and Women in South Hall.
Guests from other residence buildings will not be permitted.
Off-campus students or other guests will also not be permitted to enter residence.
Gatherings in residence will be kept in the common living spaces in each room with a capacity of six total people. Each person will be required to wear a mask.
Students will be allowed to have one guest at a time visit in their bedroom, provided that the guest is from the residence building and that both people wear masks.

Masks in Residence

Students living in residence will be required to wear masks when they are in commonly used spaces by all students in the building. This includes the hallways, laundry room, common rooms and bedrooms during approved gatherings, and other common areas.

Quarantine Rooms in Residence

For the Fall, both North and South Hall will have one apartment that will be used in the event that it is necessary to isolate students.

Impact Groups

Impact Groups will continue to host their official weekly meetings in designated spaces and rooms located in The Heritage Community Centre and the Academic Building. This will allow Impact Groups to meet in a more spacious environment and welcome off-campus students to participate in person on a weekly basis.

Chapel

This year, Heritage will continue to host two weekly chapel services. On Tuesdays at 11:30am, All-Institution Chapel will be once again held in the Chapel in The Heritage Community Centre and will welcome college and seminary students, along with staff and faculty to join for worship in-person or on livestream.

On Thursdays at 11:30am, college students will be able to gather for worship in the Chapel located in The Heritage Community Centre. Seminary Chapel will start again and will be hosted in Room 201 in the Academic Building.

Life in The Heritage Community Centre

We are excited to welcome students back to The H this semester to provide a welcoming space for our student community to learn, grow and thrive together.

Under the current guidelines, there will be no longer be any capacity limits for the use of the Student Centre and The Bean.
As is the case with all indoor spaces on campus, the Heritage community will continue to be required to wear masks while using The H.

Intramurals, Fitness Centre and Gym

Team Sports and Intramurals will start again on campus for both on and off campus college and seminary students. Once the Fall Semester begins, a schedule of sports and activities will be released for students to participate in.
Student Services will continue to require students, staff, and alumni to register time to use our Fitness Centre for the Fall Semester. To schedule your times to use the facility, please contact Cassie Talabis at ctalabis@heritagecs.edu.

Cafeteria

To follow current guidelines established by the Province of Ontario, the Cafeteria will once again be laid out in both the Dining Hall and the Connections Café in order to provide distancing between the tables.

On-Campus Student Travel for the 2021-2022 Academic Year

Last year, Heritage required that students make a special request to take overnight trips off-campus and out of the region over the weekend. Under current provincial guidelines, this requirement will be removed for the academic year.

For more information on the framework for the Fall Semester, please feel free to email the COVID-19 Protocols Committee at covid19@heritagecs.edu.

Important Links

Cambridge COVID-19 Assessment Centre – 226-895-1050

215 Holiday Inn Drive

Hours of Operation: Monday to Friday 8:30am – 8:30pm; Saturday, Sunday and Holidays 8:30am-4:30pm