Tech welcomes freshman class of 2023 at move in weekend | La Vida

This weekend, thousands of Tech’s freshman class of 2023 moved into their dorms for the fall semester.

Sean Duggan, managing director of student housing, talked about the biggest struggle for move-in day – the Texas heat.

“We want people to take it easy and stay hydrated and cool off inside or in the shade,” he said.

On top of the mid-August weather in Lubbock, Duggan said the swarms of people make move-in more difficult.

“It’s thousands of people hitting the campus – students, parents, family members, friends – all helping students to move in,” he said. “It’s just very, very hectic and busy.”

Move-in day is a huge ordeal for most people, both physically and emotionally, Duggan said.

“It’s a very emotional time,” he said. “We understand that parents are dropping off one of their most prized possessions to be a Red Raider, and this might be the first time for many of these students to be on their own, so that’s an emotional time. We just try to support all the families going through that.”

Because of the huge amounts of people all trying to move in, Duggan said the entire housing staff was out this weekend for move in.

 “We call this our Super Bowl weekend,” he said. “This is where we have thousands of people descending on Texas Tech. We want it to go as smooth as possible.”

Student housing is required to make accommodations for all of the freshman class to live on campus their first year. And on top of this, housing also accommodates sophomore, junior and senior students who choose to live on campus.

“We have to house the first year students,” Duggan said. “We have a housing requirement. They are our top priority. But we also want as many students living on campus as possible, so we are looking at almost 8,300 (students) this fall.”

Duggan projected as the number of freshmen continues to grow, the housing department will explore options of expansion.

“As Tech continues to grow, that growth will have to be balanced with new facilities and that kind of thing,” he said. “So I would not be surprised in the next three to five years if we build another hall.”

Emma Sheffield, a kinesiology freshman from Glenrose, said her move-in process went smoothly.

“The people in there were very helpful,” she said. “There was a line at the elevator, but honestly it wasn’t that bad.”

Sheffield admitted nervous feelings about moving, however she was excited to meet her roommate for the first time, she said.

“It was nerve wracking,” she said, “but we get along pretty well so far, so I don’t think we’ll have any issues.”

The heat was exhausting, Sheffield said, but everyone there was welcoming and friendly, and the traffic was not as bad as she thought it would be.

Courtney Morris, another kinesiology freshman from Glenrose, said she tried to get to campus early to beat the crowds of people.

“We tried to get their early, but there were so many people, and my roommate isn’t coming until Thursday, and so I’m going to be alone,” she said. “I’m really nervous about that.”

Morris was concerned about her schedule because she has two classes back to back across campus, she said.

“I’m worried that I’m not going to make it to class on time, like I have fifteen minutes between one because they had only so many slots (for the class) and so I have to run to that one, it’s completely across campus,” Morris said.

Gabby Sanchez, a pre-nursing freshman from Albuquerque, New Mexico, said she was excited to be moving onto campus for her first year of college.

“Getting my key and stuff was really easy,” she said. “Now its just going up to my dorm and moving everything in it.”

Since Tech was close to her home, had the pre-nursing program she wanted, and has a large sports program, Sanchez said this school just made sense.

In choosing what dorm to live in, Sanchez said she was a little slow to pick and dorm and ended up choosing Gates Hall because it was the last dorm available.

“It was the last one available, I was kind of lazy with my process,” she said.