Share

For Newest Campus Residents, a Festive and Efficient First Day

UT Dallas Move-in Day 2012

Friday, students moved into the residence halls. Teams of University students and workers awaited them and assisted them with carrying in their belongings.
 


Staggered check-in times and a steady flow of volunteers made campus arrivals smooth for more than 1,100 UT Dallas freshmen Friday for Move-In Day.

Nearly 100 volunteers wearing orange or green shirts directed traffic, unloaded vehicles, tagged bins and carted students’ belongings to suites in three residence halls. Festive orange, white and green balloons lined the lobby entrances, and inflatable dancing balloons marked the courtyards.

About 25 students were checked in at each Residence Hall every 30 minutes.

“They’re getting moved in quickly. It’s a smooth process for them with all the volunteers we have helping this year,” said Matt Grief, assistant vice president for Student Affairs.

As parents drove up, volunteers from Greek organizations and Student Government emptied vehicles and filled large rolling storage bins to transport items into the Residence Halls. Peer advisers welcomed students and toted luggage.

Tom Fletcher of Denver was impressed with how smoothly things went as he helped his daughter, Danielle, an arts and performance major from Falls Church, Va., find her suite.

“This is the most organized, extraordinarily efficient move-in I’ve seen,” said the veteran father of two college-age daughters. “I’m proud of Danielle. She’ll be able to follow her dream here.”

UT Dallas Move-in Day 2012

 

Student Ramonte McCullough (second from left) gathered with his family in front of an inflatable Temoc during Move-In Day.

UT Dallas Move-in Day 2012

Student Government Vice President Nathaniel Fairbank rolls a cart to help a fellow student move in.

Though he’s not moving far from home, Dillon Young of Flower Mound was eager to live on campus. One of his roommates is his best friend; the other he met 10 minutes after moving in.
 

“I didn’t want to have to make the drive from home every day, and it’s kind of cool to live on my own,” said Young, a computer science major.

“I definitely didn’t want him to be a commuter student,” said Gail Young, Dillon’s mother. “This will help him get more involved and meeting people. And it’s not like he’s forever away, like he’d be if he went to Yale.”

Students living at Residence Hall West, just completed in August, will be part of Living Learning Communities. Faculty welcomed students majoring in pre-health, arts and technology, engineering, computer science and business, who will be able to live, study and take classes with others in their academic field.

Final enrollment numbers will not be available for some time, but UT Dallas anticipates a record enrollment this fall, said Curt Eley, vice provost for enrollment management. Enrollment a year ago was 18,864.

Grief said more than 3,700 UT Dallas students are living on campus in residence halls or apartments.

Media Contact: The Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, (972) 883-2155, [email protected].

Tagged: