SALISBURY — Looking from the doorway into the residence hall room of Catawba College first-year students, Michelle Eisenman of Brunswick, Ohio, and Kristen Kaiser of Blacksburg, Va., one might wonder how the two girls will be able to fit in the space with all of their belongings.
Both say they know everything will fit, and Kristen’s sister, Kelly, a senior at Virginia Tech, confirms that; she has experience in these matters and was busy Saturday helping her sister move in at Catawba and place her belongings in her room in Woodson Residence Hall.
Eisenman and Kaiser first met during freshman retreat and are among 682 students who will be living on the Catawba campus during the upcoming academic year. Kaiser, a West Scholar who plans to major in elementary education and special education, is following in the collegiate footsteps of her aunt, Laura Anderson-Hickman who graduated from Catawba in 1985.
Eisenman plans to major in biology and hopes to become a pediatrician or a sports medicine doctor.
Senior Maura Pantone of Pittsburgh, Pa., is the residence assistant on Eisenman and Kaiser’s hall in Woodson. This will be her third year serving as an R.A. in Woodson and her fourth year of living in that hall. She said the move-in was going very smoothly and that Woodson “looks like a whole new building.”
The Catawba Facilities Department gave Woodson, one of the two residence halls used to house first-year students, a face lift over the summer and new paint, new furniture in the common areas and upgraded bathrooms are among the features welcoming new and returning students.
Parents, sibling and relatives figured prominently on campus during move-in day. Carrie Briscoe-Peden of Greensboro sat in the front seat of her vehicle, taking a break, after moving her daughter, Courtney Briscoe, into her room in Salisbury-Rowan Residence Hall. Courtney, Briscoe-Peden confided, “had too many clothes and too many shoes,” but needed it all.
“It’s sad to move her in today, but I’m so proud of her. She’s quite a bright young lady and we are very proud.”
Haylea Wyckoff of Kent, Ohio, walked with her parents, Genee and Greg, across campus. She said she “wanted to move South and started looking at different colleges” before choosing Catawba.
First-year student, Kedtrin Gallagher of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., seemed settled into her room in Woodson. She proudly showed off supplies that she and her roommate, Brittany Davis of Lexington, N.C., had stockpiled for the start of the academic year. “We’ve got macaroni and cheese, Chef Boyardee Ravioli, cereal, bread, Pop Tarts, plenty of detergent, and enough towels to last us for two weeks,” Gallagher announced. “We’re all stocked up and we’re both neat freaks.”
Gallagher met senior Suzy Williams while standing in her hallway at Woodson. Williams is serving as an Alpha for the first-year honors seminar entitled, “Animals in Translation.” The course will be taught by Catawba College Professor of English, Dr. Janice Fuller, and Gallagher is enrolled in that class. “I’ve already gotten all of the books for it,” Gallagher shared with Williams.
Catawba’s Student Affairs staff streamlined the check-in process for incoming students, having various stations set up for issuing student IDs, parking registration and accepting health forms all in one location in the Cannon Student Center. “It’s all going smoothly,” explained Dee Woodie, a Student Affairs staff member. By 10:45 a.m. on August 11, Woodie said, close to 100 students had checked in and gone through the various stations.
One quiet, petite first-year student from Charlotte, Dominique Berry, was among the students going through the various stations as her mother, Vickie, and her cousin, Shazaria McNeill, waited patiently in an area labeled as “parent waiting area.” Nearby, Ken and Marlene Covert of Mooresville, also sat. They had moved their son, Mark, a transfer student and a 270-pound offensive lineman on the Catawba football team, into his room in Salisbury-Rowan Residence Hall earlier in the week. “He’s the biggest kid in there and on the top (fourth) floor of S-R,” Ken Covert explained. “We know because we hauled all of his stuff up there.”
New students to Catawba are scheduled to participate in orientation with their first-year seminar groups through Tuesday, before the start of fall classes Wednesday.