Incoming students expecting to call the Texas A&M campus home in the coming months will move in to residence halls beginning Sunday, and the Aggie family will be there to help.
From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., there will be teams of volunteers dispersed throughout campus assisting new students and family members.
Incoming freshman and biomedical sciences major, Viona Vraniqi, said move-in day is the culmination of all her college preparations.
“After going through the housing application, receiving room assignments, and just the pure anticipation of school starting, move in day will be like the cherry on top,” Vraniqi said.
Ruth Ann Wolfe, senior administrative coordinator with the Department of Residence Life, said the volunteer teams helping with move-in day consist of current students, different student organization groups, residence life staff, faculty, and a “variety of community involvement,” including church groups.
The Department of Residence Life spends months organizing a “Residence Hall Move-In Assistance Day.”
Wolfe said Residence Life organizes a training session to inform volunteers of useful information, such as ways to efficiently unload students’ belongings.
Wolfe also said preparations have been made to ensure that volunteers are placed in locations that they have knowledge of.
“Since those volunteers are familiar with that area, it will be easier for parents to ask questions,” she said. “That’s what will make it more smooth.”
Water tents will be set up for students as well as the volunteers to help fight the Texas heat that accompanies move-in day.
John Logan, senior civil engineering major and resident advisor, suggested that an early morning arrival time might be beneficial, because of the heat.
“Move-in starts at 8 a.m., but try to get there and get in line as early as 7:45,” Logan said.
Logan gave an additional piece of advice about the days following move-in day.
“Meet the other people in your hall. You never know who you may meet,” Logan said. “My first week in the dorm my freshman year, I met my future wife.”
Students such as Evan Bakkal, freshman aerospace engineering major, expect to use the move-in period to meet other students and begin those relationships.
“Move-in day will be perfect for starting my time at A&M because not only will I be the new kid on the block, but so will everyone else,” Bakkal said. “Although it may be awkward at first I think that once I finish unpacking and everything I will try to help some other people with moving in and that should also help break the ice with meeting new people.”
Wolfe said that a large part of organizing move-in day is many of the student volunteers’ willingness to help.
“The majority of them have lived on campus and they just want to be ready to give back and put back what they were given to the University,” Wolfe said.