Louie was on hand to welcome first-year students as they arrived for Move-In Day on August 21. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)

The annual tradition of Move-In Day at Oak Hall had a slightly different feel this year for the students arriving to their new home at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

For starters, the weather was just about perfect, with the temperatures dropping out of the 90s and into the low 80s, which felt quite comfortable in the ample shade provided by the trees in front of the the 130,000-square-foot residential hall on South Campus. And this Move-In Day was slightly less hectic, by design. This year, for the first time, students enrolled in the Pierre Laclede Honors College moved in a day early, on Wednesday. They joined the groups already in their rooms, including the fall athletes, international students and students with the Office of Inclusive Postsecondary Education program.

Thursday’s official Move-In Day was for first-year students, with returning students having access to their rooms on Friday.

Casey Dillard (right) gets a spot of help from one of the UMSL volunteers on hand to assist with Move-In Day at Oak Hall.

“While it’s created three move-in days, it is nice to not have that level of chaos because it does spread things out,” said Janelle Julian, the assistant vice provost for student engagement and belonging. “It makes it a little bit easier for families to get in and out of the parking lot and get unloaded without such a rush. We are really intentional that, when a student checks in, they immediately are connected with a resident assistant, so if they’re nervous or a little bit shy, they immediately have that one-on-one interaction.”

Julian said that Oak Hall will be filled to capacity this semester, with roughly 70 percent of the 422 rooms filled by first-year students and 30 percent returning students. With that in mind, creating a schedule where each new student and their family members made a positive initial UMSL connection was a priority for Julian, Oak Hall Resident Director KiKi Marshall and their staff of two assistant resident directors and 12 resident advisors. That also helped ensure multiple volunteers were available – more than 50 were on hand Thursday – to help the newcomers get their belongings from the car to the room.

More than 50 volunteers – made up of students, faculty and staff members, plus athletic coaches – were on hand to help students and their parents to unload cars and shuttle their belongings into their new Oak Hall rooms.

The effort was noticed by the new arrivals.

“We had a lot of people help us move my stuff in,” said Sariah Bailey, a Brentwood High School graduate who was there with her parents and grandparents. “And we had someone come walk me through everything, which was nice.”

Bailey is planning to study nursing at UMSL. She visited three schools while making her college decision, but she said the choice was easy after making all three tours.

“We took a tour here during my junior year and I really liked it,” she said. “Then I took a nursing tour a couple months ago, and the tour guide was telling me all the benefits here, like getting your master’s in a shorter time. I liked how the residence hall rooms looked, how they were set up. When I took the tour, it just made me feel comfortable, normal the whole time.”

She was especially impressed with the nursing school facilities.

“When I saw all the mannequins and how everything was updated, that was cool,” she said. “I want to be a pediatric nurse, taking care of babies and younger kids. When I saw they had the mannequins for the babies, or the smaller kids, that was good to see, too. I’m a hands-on learner, so I’m ready to get into everything.”

With a helping hand from her dad, David, Harmony Roussin starts to organize her room. She’s planning to study nursing at UMSL.

Harmony Roussin, who rode up from her home in St. Clair with her dad, David, is planning to pursue nursing, too. And as with Bailey, her UMSL tour made a big impact.

“When I applied here, they got back to me very quickly and responded very well,” she said. “I still wasn’t sure about going here until I took a tour. It was last fall, and I love that time of year. I loved how the campus looked, the tour guide was so nice and fantastic and it was really just a good experience.”

There were a few moments of nerves on Move-In Day, she admitted.

“On the drive here, I was really nervous,” she said. “You know how you get that pit in your stomach? But now that I’m here, it’s not so bad. I’m excited.”

Freshman Saida Hoppe (left), who is from Little Rock, Arkansas, had plenty of help on Move-In Day.

When Saida Hoppe was in high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, and starting to think about her college options, she always had one rule in mind.

“I never wanted to stay in Arkansas for college,” she said. “I just knew I wanted to try something new. We have family in St. Louis, so I was looking in the St. Louis area.”

Her mom, Ellen, was on board with that but wanted to make sure she had connections nearby. UMSL was a natural fit.

“I held it together on the drive up,” Ellen said, “then coming up the driveway, I was like, ‘I’m not going to cry, but it’s getting very real!’ We’re just so excited.”

Saida plans to study psychology at UMSL, with an open mind regarding her career path. She said that she’s already looking forward to a class she’ll take in the spring semester that examines potential careers within psychology, which will help her choose between options like doing social work or becoming a therapist.

Louie gives assistant baseball coach Brandon Applewhite a hand with one of the red roller carts used to transport new students’ belongings into the rooms.

Sam Niyobuhungiro moved into Oak Hall with the help of his older sister, Rebeka, and mom, Kezia. He plans to go into physical therapy and likes the options UMSL has to help prepare him to start that career path. “It’s affordable, close to home,” he said. “I like the city. I liked the campus when I came here once with my friends.”

Niyobuhungiro and his family live in Columbia, Missouri. Rebeka is excited for her brother.

“It’s amazing. It’s bittersweet, I would say,” she said. “I’m so happy for this new season for him because this is a great school. We have friends who have gone to this school, and they loved it. It’s relatively close to home, and it’s in a town that we’re familiar with. We’re very excited for him. I want to see him grow.”

That’s a feeling that was shared all around Oak Hall on Move-In Day.

“We’re just so excited to meet the new students,” Julian said. “It seems like it’s going to be a really great class, just from my interactions I’ve had in the assignments process and the questions that they ask in preparation. And even as they’re arriving, their families are great.”