Moving on in
From wheeled carts to room service, BU helps students get settled
They came from across the country with U-Hauls and trailers, quarters for the parking meters on Commonwealth Avenue, and hopes for good weather. Good parking spots were in demand, and packing light was a priority.
“We didn’t have to put anything on the roof of the car,” says Margaret Foss, who drove from Albany with her husband, Ned, to move daughter Zoe (CAS’09) into Sleeper Hall. “We were very proud.”
More than 11,000 students moved into 150 Boston University residences last week, flooding the area with cars, trucks, and the wheeled bins distributed by the Office of Residence Life. Approximately 80 percent of BU’s undergraduates live on-campus, and every year move-in weekend is preceded by months of planning. “Move-in weekend is a logistically complex project,” says David Zamojski, the director of Residence Life. “But we’re committed to delivering a seamless, well-coordinated welcome, and I’m confident we do a terrific job rolling out our great big welcome mat.”
The Student Activities Office recruits 135 student volunteers, called Fall Welcome Ambassadors, to assist students and families, and 270 resident assistants are stationed around campus to check students in and issue room keys. “It was all very efficient,” says Kathy Rose, of Sugar Land, Tex., whose daughter Kristine (SMG’09) moved into Warren Towers.
This year, 544 students, including 16 resident assistants, will be living at two hotels, the Holiday Inn in Brookline and the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cambridge. High freshman enrollment and ongoing renovations in the dormitories are a factor in placing students in hotels; 16 students living in the Classics House, at 176 Bay State Rd., where renovations are a few weeks behind schedule, are at the Holiday Inn, but will return to Bay State Road later in the semester.
“The hotel residents will enjoy many of the perks associated with being a hotel guest,” says Zamojski, “so we’re confident they’ll be comfortable.”
Freshmen participating in the First-Year Student Outreach Program, a weeklong community service event that takes place before classes begin, moved in on Monday, August 29. Upperclassmen began returning to campus last Wednesday, and the remaining freshmen moved in on Saturday and Sunday.
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