Maine
University of Southern Maine welcomes freshmen to Gorham campus
Emily Burrill, a freshman from Sullivan, carries a monitor into Upton Hastings Hall at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham on Friday, move-in day for USM’s freshman class. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
First thing Friday morning, volunteers were on the University of Southern Maine campus in Gorham wearing bright yellow “Welcome to USM” shirts and guiding vehicles to the front of Upton-Hastings Hall.
Hastings is one of several residence halls on campus where students are moving in this weekend. Dean of Students Rodney Mondor said roughly 550 freshman were scheduled to arrive Friday.
They include Emily Burrill, who is undecided on her major but thinks she might study physical therapy.
“I’m a little nervous, but my roommate seems really cool,” Burrill said.
Her father Richard joked he was “undecided still” about Burrill leaving home. They drove in from Sullivan, a town in Hancock County more than three hours away.
“He’ll miss me,” Burrill said.
“I just can’t believe she’s 18, going off to school,” Richard Burrill said.
Around them, students and their families were carrying pop-up chairs, shelves, lamps, dishes and bins of quick groceries.
“Gotta grab the coffee maker,” one mom laughed, following her daughter into the dorm. “Because that’s most important.”
Rose Brassard, left, Lily Allard, center, and Lauren Pflanz look over items at the free yard sale at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham on Friday. The university’s Office of Sustainability collects items students leave behind when they depart the dorms in the spring and offer them free to incoming students in the fall. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
On a lawn nearby, there was an even larger assortment of dorm room items for the taking at USM’s “free yard sale.”
Steve Sweeney is the Resource Recovery Supervisor for the school’s Office of Sustainability. At the end of every school year, the school accepts things students no longer want that’s still in usable condition, he said.
They’ll donate electric fans, books, shelves, shower caddies, clothing hangers, furniture and even dishes (some taken from the dining hall). Some of the more unusual items on display Friday morning include a bowl of nerf darts, a tie-dye kit and a snowman waffle iron.
Anything that isn’t taken this weekend will end up at the Freestore, which is open to students and staff throughout the year.
Sweeney said this saves the school about $2,000 a year that they used to spend on renting dumpsters.
“The students also save a lot of money by not having to buy this stuff,” he said.
Mondor, the dean of students, watched late Friday morning as roughly a dozen students perused the yard sale. He said he was looking forward to orientation this weekend, including an event to help new students navigate the bus system.
“With new students comes all kinds of new adventures,” Mondor said. “It’s always exciting because we have no idea what October will look like.”