On a rainy Wednesday, students moving into the FAU dormitories were given a warm welcome and a helping hand from various campus organizations and individuals including Student Government, the Greek Council, and even President Brogan and Student Body President Ancel Pratt III.
The goal was to help freshmen students and their parents feel welcome and make the transition from home-life to college-life go as smoothly as possible.
At every dormitory the scene was similar: members of fraternities and sororities were lugging everything from mirrors to microwaves into the new students’ rooms.
Outside Indian River Towers, a large green dumpster was set up to receive all the boxes and packing material discarded from the move-in process, but the dumpster quickly filled and a second garbage bin had to be brought to handle all the garbage.
Residential-life staffers were on hand to assist the students in any way possible, such as giving students keys to their rooms or simply holding a door for an overloaded parent. Parking lots were filled to capacity – many people resorted to parking on the grass lawns close to the buildings to make hauling luggage less lengthy and laborious.
One student received help from both Pratt and Brogan. When asked how she felt about having both the university president and the student-body president help her move in, Ashley Mullineaux said she thought it was “generous” of the university to help with the moving process.
Brad Sharp, of the Department of Housing and Residential Life, estimated that 1,000 or more students would be moving in on one day, with the rest straggling in during the following days. Of those thousand students moving in, nearly all were first-timers at FAU and members of the new freshmen class.
President Brogan said that with the construction of the new dormitory, scheduled for completion by next year, FAU will house nearly 3,000 students between the Boca Raton and Jupiter campuses. He expects FAU to house another thousand within five years.
“All in all, I think the incoming freshmen should be very pleased with what they find,” Brogan said. “Even on a bad day, many of our freshmen and their families are being greeted in a very warm way by their fellow students.”
Brogan also said it was important that the students’ families felt that they would be leaving the students in a good place. He said that the most enjoyable part of his job was getting to interact with students on a personal level.
“The best part of the job is the students,” Brogan said. “That’s what keeps me in education.”
Pratt said new students should check the Student Government Program Board, as SG has many activities planned for new students. SG will have several tables in the Breezeway set up to let students know how they can get involved on campus.
Pratt expects incoming students to receive a pleasant welcome to FAU. He recalled that of the three years he has helped with move-in day, it had never rained – but that despite the rain, everything was still going smoothly.
