A mom moving her only child into Watterson Towers on Wednesday said she’d try and wait until 9 p.m. the first night to text her freshman statistics major.
Try.
A dad pulled an overloaded cart of his daughter’s belongings toward the elevator, telling his wife, “Now I can have a game room at home.” Mom said, “Her room is staying as is.”
They’d done this before, as had the mom who carried a rubber mallet in her purse, ready to pound a loft into place.
Move-in moved along seamlessly Wednesday morning as Curb Birds jumped in to wrap plastic around whatever was loaded onto carts, holding fridges and futons together for the shuffle to the elevator. Nearly 6,200 students will travel to Illinois State through Sunday for move-in, with most students arriving Wednesday and Thursday.
Senior volleyball player Stacey Niao volunteered with her team to unload cars, which had everything from single-serve coffee brewers to golf clubs and a fishing pole.
“All I brought were two suitcases,” she said, of her move from New Zealand three years ago.
Not everyone is eager to join the move-in rush, said Hurdylyn Woods of University Housing.
“Some of them show up Monday morning. They wait until right before classes start,” he said.
As for the most unusual question University Housing gets, Director Stacey Mwilambwe said it might be from students who believe residence halls are like hotel rooms.
“They ask if we have cleaning services.”
Check out more move-in photos on Illinois State’s Tumblr.
Kate Arthur can be reached at kaarthu@IllinoisState.edu. Bob Tomaski can be reached at rdtomas@IllinoisState.edu.
