Moving ahead of the class

New university students were greeted with volunteer movers, bottled water and traffic detours.

By the end of the day Thursday, Cape Girardeau's population had spiked by about 1,200 people.

The mass influx came as students ready to start their first year at Southeast Missouri State University settled into their new dorm homes on move-in day.

University officials have been preparing for the day for weeks, rolling out hundreds of volunteers and about 4,000 bottles of water to help new residents settle in comfortably and combat the 90-plus-degree heat.

The students began filing in at 6 a.m., when early-bird registration began, and continued coming in until mid-afternoon.

The Minghi family of Fredericktown, Mo., hit the campus around 10 a.m. to move in their son Tony, a transfer student from Mineral Area College in his third year of college. Despite all the apparent chaos of random cars and bodies outside, the Minghis were relaxed and calm.

"It is the best organized event I've ever seen," said Tony's father, Al. "All we had to do was follow the arrows."

The Minghis were aided by some of the roughly 600 student and staff volunteers who assisted in moving students in, providing muscle and water to the hordes of newcomers.

"We don't know what we're doing, but they seem to," said Al as fraternity members took Tony's things and led the way to his eighth-floor room in Towers South.

The family had only been on campus 25 minutes by the time they got to Tony's room. That time included registration and move-in.

Andrew Tebo and Ali Harvey helped move Tony's things in. The two had been working since 6 a.m. helping families and students but were still smiling.

When the Minghis got to the room, they were briefed by Dustin Bailey, a student affiliated with the campus's Baptist Student Union.

"We're here to help," Bailey told Tony as he offered him free pizza at the BSU and free breakfast.

The move-in takes massive amounts of manpower and planning. The university's Office of Residence Life oversees the process.

"Overall it's the same event we do year after year," said Kelly Burris-Werener, director of residence life. "Last year we had a relatively flawless one, and we just really carried that over."

First-time students, transfers and freshmen, moved into all nine of the campus dorms, with the majority of action in Towers South and the all-freshman Towers East.

"The only real challenge is Towers, where we're packing 700 students into three buildings," said Bruce Skinner, assistant director .

Planning for the massive event began in the spring. It required organizing the hundreds of volunteers and laying out plans for traffic and student welcome events, said Skinner. The work of volunteers is key for a smooth process, he said.

"You can have the greatest traffic control and set-up, but unless we can get the stuff out of the car and get mom and dad out fast, it won't matter," Skinner said.

The volunteers accomplished their task, swarming cars as soon as they reached Towers Circle, ready to help. Skinner said one key goal is that parents shouldn't have to lift a finger in most cases.

"This is really good from the parents' viewpoint," said Pam Kelley of St. Charles, Mo., who helped move her freshman daughter Lindsay into Towers South.

At any point during move-in, said Skinner, there are at least four uniformed campus police and 12 to 15 parking control personnel on campus and the surrounding streets. The police directed traffic at the Sprigg Street and Henderson Avenue ends of New Madrid Avenue, blocking eastbound traffic on New Madrid to prevent congestion.

Skinner said studies have shown about 1,000 cars and more than 3,000 people flood the campus during the roughly nine-hour move-in.

Skinner said the university wasn't concerned with the narrow lanes due to construction on Broadway, where most of the traffic flowed through to get to Sprigg Street. The street had just been opened to two-lane traffic as work proceeded on the Broadway widening project at its intersection with Henderson Avenue.

The Minghis took that route. Al said there were no problems navigating the narrow lanes.

Now that the students have made it, they'll begin to experience dorm life.

"I'm just going to take it as it comes," said Tony.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182