Operation Move-In to give on-campus residents smooth start to year

August 13, 2008

This weekend, thousands of Georgia Southern University students will be taking their first steps of the 2008-09 academic year. Lots of steps.

The GSU campus will be filled with students in the parking lots, the hallways, and up and down the stairs as they settle in for the new academic year. More than 3,400 students are expected to move into Georgia Southern’s eight residence halls on Aug. 15-16.

The students will have plenty of help, though. In keeping with a Georgia Southern tradition, more than 800 administrators, faculty, students and staff will lend a hand with ‘Operation Move-In.”

“Operation Move-In is one of the many student-centered traditions Georgia Southern implements for new and returning residence hall students,” said Vickie Hawkins, director of University Housing. ‘We strive to create a fun and festive, welcoming environment to demonstrate our caring and helpful community.”

The volunteers will assist the University Housing staff by greeting students and their parents, directing traffic and even carrying boxes and suitcases from students’ cars to their rooms. In the process, the university leaves a lasting impression on the students and their parents.

‘Operation Move-In is one way to get the year off to a great start. Meeting the new students and their parents in my cutoffs and t-shirt is a friendly way to start a long-term relationship. In addition, it seems to give the parents some assurance that we both walk and talk’ our interest in their students,” said Linda Bleicken, provost and vice president of academic affairs.

Students will first report to the Recreation Activity Center (RAC), where they will receive their room keys and other important materials. They will then proceed to their assigned residence halls to complete the move-in process.

Check-in times start at 9 a.m. and are determined by the month students were born. Check-in ends at the RAC at 6 p.m. and it continues in each residence hall from 6:30 to 10 p.m., on both Aug. 15 and 16. Classes begin on Aug. 18.

The Operation Move-In volunteers include representatives from a number of student organizations: Baptist Collegiate Ministries; Black Student Alliance; CCF; Delta Sigma Theta Sorority; Delta Tau Delta; Equestrian Club; BUILD; Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc.; National Council of Negro Women; Southern Ambassadors; and members of the SOAR team.