Parents help Susquehanna University freshmen move into dorms – Sunbury Daily Item

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Parents help Susquehanna University freshmen move into dorms

Sunbury Daily Item
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SELINSGROVE — Tom Casey filled the fish tank as his wife, Janine, helped move their son, Liam, and his new pet into a dorm room at Aikens Hall at Susquehanna University Thursday morning.

The scene may not have played out exactly the same in all the other dorms across campus but many of the 624 freshmen students were accompanied by parents as they settled into their new home.

“This is just the next phase. It’s exciting and sad,” said David Jakubowski who with his wife, Provvi Panarisi, was helping move their son, Nick, into the same room as Casey.

“We want him to be comfortable so we know he’s staying,” said Panarisi. “We have only one chance to get this right.”

Classes begin Monday. About 2,300 students are enrolled at Susquehanna and nearly all undergraduates reside on campus. Among the first-year class are four international exchange and 32 transfer students.

According to a press release from Susquehanna University, the Class of 2023 is the most academically successful class in the history of the school. The university says the incoming freshmen class had a median grade point average of 3.71 — up from 3.6 last year — and SAT scores averaging 1200, up 20 points over last year and 80 points over the past three years.

In Reed Hall, Barbara Fisher, a 1967 SU grad and retired teacher from Selinsgrove, was among the more than 100 volunteers who helped during move-in day.

She even greeted a football player who now occupies the same room she did in the 1960s.

Fifty years ago the dorms were not co-ed and Fisher said a “house mother” lived across the hall and kept a close eye on the female students who had a curfew.

Some things don’t change, though, and Fisher said she urged the incoming students to “soak up every minute” of their college experience. “Those four years go so quickly.”

As the volunteers assisted students and families, the college marching band roamed the campus and entertained the crowd.

Sophomore Larry Czeponis of Mount Carmel, a resident assistant at Reed Hall in charge of 28 students, said the move-in process went smoothly.

“So far so good,” he said, looking forward to another year. “I like it here.”

At Aikens Hall, freshman Dajia George’s mother, Tiffany; sister Miya, 10, and aunt, Talmashia Warren, all of New Jersey, held back tears.

“I’m OK right now,” said Tiffany George.

Jen Felty said she knows how they feel.

Bryleigh is her second child to go to college “but this is harder,” Felty said as she hung art on the wall above her daughter’s bed.

A smiling Bryleigh said her mother would be returning to the campus from their Valley View home in a few days.

“She’s coming back on Sunday with my laundry,” the teen said.

Pierre George wasn’t as visibly emotional but described dropping his daughter off at university as “bittersweet.”

“It means she’s moving on. I think it’s a great step,” he said. “She’s going to a great school.”

On an upper floor at Aikens Hall, the mood in Casey and Jakubowski’s dorm room was less somber.

“The directive from our son was ‘Unpack me and get off campus,'” David Jakubowski said.

“Our iguana will be here later,” joked Panarisi.

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