Arkansas State University students move into campus

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – Thousands of students have made Arkansas State University their home ahead of the new school year.

Saturday marked move-in day for the red wolves.

Arkansas State University Chief Communications Officer Bill Smith said it was an exciting time for staff.

“Some are here for the first time, others are coming back and seeing their friends again,” he said.

It was a busy morning for those helping students move to campus.

Nearly 3,000 students are packing into the residence halls this year, but nearly half moved in.

“We’ve got about 40% of our students already on campus, today is the last day of move-in if you think of it that way,” said Smith.

Resident Advisors waited to hand students their keys, but there were also volunteers from Central Baptist Church, ready to take a heavy burden off parents and students moving in.

“I am excited, I’m nervous, I’m sad,” said April Jackson, whose son, Mason, is a freshman on campus.

The family is from Warren and stayed in Jonesboro overnight to avoid an early drive, but the family was surprised to see Central Baptist Church volunteers ready to pick their things up and take them to dorms, no matter where they were going.

“I was dreading it, especially because he’s on the tenth floor, his room was on the tenth floor and I was thinking to myself, ‘how are we gonna get all of this stuff to the tenth floor’,” she said.

The Jackson family, like many others, didn’t carry a single thing to their dorms. All they had to do, was open the doors and wait for their stuff to come in.

“It was just a comfort to come in and see all of the people in the community out coming in to give us a hand,” Jackson said.

“That’s one thing that separates move-in at Astate from other places is the number and the well-organized nature of our volunteers in the community,” Smith said.

The family said the help from the volunteers saved them at least an hour or two; hours that they now got to spend together before having to say goodbye.

For Jackson, leaving her son is difficult but she’s eager to see him again once he’s moved in.

“I’m kind of excited to see him pull it together, the way he wants in his own personal space,” she said.

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