SEMO students create crowds on opening day at dormitories

CLASSES START MONDAY

By Mark Bliss ~ Southeast Missourian

Dedee Crafton brought everything but the kitchen sink to her new dorm room.

She had a small white fridge she couldn't do without. Neither could she do without her television set, computer and DVD player.

Debbie Crafton said her daughter came prepared for dorm life. "The Pizza Hut number is on the front of the fridge. That's important," she said with a smile.Crafton helped her haul two carloads of belongings into Southeast Missouri State University's spotless new residence hall on Henderson Avenue on Thursday.

"It is nice. It is gorgeous," she said as she surveyed the room quickly filling up with her daughter's belongings.

Dedee Crafton of Kennett, Mo., was one of 1,185 freshmen and transfer students who moved into Southeast Missouri State University residence halls on Thursday as they prepared for the start of fall classes on Monday.

Nearly 1,000 of those students moved into the four high-rise Towers dorms on Sprigg Street, filling up parking spaces and cramming belongings into elevators.

Traffic was backed up on New Madrid Street with students trying to reach the Student Recreation Center to check in and others trying to get their loaded-down cars closer to the campus residence halls.

2,500 on campus

When returning students move into the dorms over the weekend, the university expects to have about 2,500 students living on campus.

Those students could be part of a record enrollment this fall, topping last fall when 9,352 students attended classes, school officials say.

New students like Dedee Crafton were thrilled to be moving into a new residence hall.

The transfer student who attended an Arkansas junior college the last two years was one of about 80 students who moved into the new $13 million, five-story residence hall on Henderson Avenue even as workers put finishing touches on heating and cooling equipment in the building and landscaping work continued.

The smell of fresh paint greeted students moving into the 293-bed building.

"When I came and registered earlier this summer, the windows weren't even in," Dedee Crafton said.

The dorm will house mostly returning students, most of whom won't show up until this weekend.

Move-in help

About 400 fraternity and sorority members helped students move into dorm rooms all across campus.

Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity member David Kirby of East Prairie, Mo., spent the morning lugging students' televisions, clothes, computers and other belongings to rooms in the residence hall.

This is the third fall semester that Kirby has volunteered to help move in students.

A sweating Kirby said it's easier moving students into the new residence hall than the 12-story Towers dorms.

"There's not as many floors," he said.

While many students, parents and helpers waited to take belongings up in the elevators, Kirby used the stairs. "I'm impatient. I hate waiting for the elevator," he said.

St. Louisan Brett Malen, a member of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity, helped out, too. But he said it isn't easy moving carloads of belongings into a dorm.

"It's a pain in the butt, but it's got to be done," he said.

Freshman Julie Hixson of Greenville, Mo., was delighted to get a fourth-floor room in the new residence hall. Malen and several other Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity members helped haul her belongings into the dorm room.

So what was the hardest thing about moving into the dorm? "Trying to pick what clothes to leave at home," she said.

Hixson said she couldn't survive without her computer. "I'm a big nerd. I study a lot," she said.

Some students brought their own furniture as well as trunkloads of clothes, stuffed animals and comfortable chairs.

Debbie Tierney of St. Peters, Mo., had no complaints about moving her daughter, Amber, into a Towers South ninth floor dorm room. "We thought it would be worse," she said.

Jim Settle, director of Residence Life at Southeast, said students moved into residence halls over a six-hour period. "By 3:30 p.m., we had almost every new student moved in," he said.

Students have been greeted with sizzling summer heat as they moved into the dorms in recent years. That wasn't the case this year.

"Cloudy skies and a nice breeze certainly helped a lot," Settle said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123