SDSU welcomed over 2,300 SDSU freshmen at the annual Meet State move-in Friday, with over 2,100 returning sophomores moving on campus Saturday.
There were over 800 Meet State volunteers that helped students move in this year, which is an increase from last year, said Rebecca Peterson, director of housing and residential life.
“Every year it just keeps getting better and better,” Peterson said. “It’s like a well-oiled machine and then we just keep making process improvements, and our volunteers are incredibly loyal.”
There were some changes to the move-in weekend schedule this year.
Traditionally, the annual freshman photo and Convocation are held on Saturday at Sylvan Green.
This year, both events were held at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium on Friday.
“We’re just so excited to welcome our new students and our returning students back, and I’m grateful for the team to put together a really wonderful welcome for them,” Peterson said.
Jennifer Novotny, assistant vice president for student life, said the changes were to help keep new students connected and engaged.
“We really looked at, ‘How do we connect students best to the university?’ and then their families are here today, and so we have sort of strategic programming so that they have the time to converge together.”
Novotny thinks this is a change that will stick around, but planners of Meet State always listen to feedback when planning for the coming year.
One challenge on Friday was heavy rain in the morning, but volunteers were unfazed.
“I got rained on earlier this morning, but the hopes were high, everyone was singing and dancing and trying to get everyone excited for campus,” said Abby Wiggins, a sophomore exercise science major and Meet State volunteer. “By about 9 o’clock, it kind of started to break, so it’s been pretty good since.”
Peterson also said that housing and residential life took steps to make sure Waneta residents were aware of $4.5 million renovations that are still being finished during move-in. The renovation includes changes primarily to the bathrooms but also updates to the kitchen and lobby.
And in Ben Reifel, a broken elevator caused a slight hiccup. Meet State volunteers started taking items out of bins and used the stairs before the issue was resolved.
“People are working super hard because our elevator went out, but other than that, it’s been all right,” said senior community assistant Sophie Enter.
Overall, Novotny is excited to see students back, especially with the new addition of Larson Commons at Yeager Hall, which she worked closely on over the summer.
“I think students are really going to love it (Larson Commons at Yeager). Most of all, I’m excited about everybody coming back,” she said. “It gets very quiet here in the summer. We’re all very busy, but we’re always very ready for students to return.”
