Over 2,000 freshmen students were dropped off along with their belongings last Friday to begin their college careers.
Heartfelt goodbyes and breathless excitement bounced through the halls and out on a warm Boone day, as the sun shone down on the volunteers helping to unload.
Betsy Wright, a freshman, said the goodbyes were bittersweet but she was excited to see what adventures were in store for her at Appalachian.
“My mom cried. My dad cried a little bit too. All happy stuff though.” Wright said.
Emily Myers, a freshman, said she is excited to find herself and explore all the new freedoms she has in college.
Annie LeRoy, a freshman, said she will likely miss her cat the most.
Elizabeth Watson, a resident advisor, said she thinks the traffic ran much smoother than it did last year.
Around 1,000 volunteers helped with the move. Close to 400 parents and 625 students and faculty members lent a hand.
While most in attendance agreed everything went smoothly, a fire alarm went off in Eggers around 11 a.m..
Marie McGurk, an R.A. in Eggers, said they evacuated the building until the police came to turn off the alarm.
McGurk said no one was hurt and administration congratulated all involved for quickly clearing the building.
“Everything is awesome, the chancellor came by and told us we were doing an awesome job, she came by and said that this is a really good setup that this is a really great flow,” McGurk said. “Everything is going really smoothly, we are answering questions right. We got a picture with her too which is really awesome, she loved it.”
LeRoy said she was more confused than frightened by the alarm.
“I didn’t understand if we actually had to leave the building but I had already brought everything inside so it didn’t affect me much other than the fact that I had to wait,” LeRoy said.
Tom Kane said the university tries its best to plan engaging events to keep kids from getting homesick or sick from drinking too much.
“It doesn’t say much for your college experience if the first weekend you’re here the hospital calls your mom and says your sons in the hospital, he drank too much,” Kane said.
Kane said Appalachian’s Welcome Weekend programming is the best of the nine schools he has worked at.
“I think that a lot of different departments are contributing to try to make it a positive experience as opposed to just saying that’s Housing’s problem, or that’s the Dean of Students problem or that’s somebody else’s problem,” Kane said. ”The university works pretty good together to try to keep the students busy.”
Story by Sammy Hanf