Early Saturday morning, many first-year students awoke to a frenetic banging on the doors of their suites accompanied by loud, disgruntled shouts. It wasn't an initiation into a secret society, or even an intense ROTC training moment. The moving trucks had arrived.
After a three-month construction delay, Woody House, the newest addition to first-year housing, opened its doors this weekend to 134 first-year students. These students have spent the first few months of the school year tripling up in New Dorm rooms designed for two.
According to University Housing Director Mark Doherty, the need for an additional first-year dorm arose because "the first-year class has been growing over the last several years."
Unfortunately, Woody House was not completed by its scheduled opening date late August. As Director of Facilities Management Jo Lawson explained Woody was not ready on time because "it was a difficult project for the contractor that we had. The contractor was not able to meet the original schedule."
This weekend, however, the dorm finally opened its doors. Memories of move-in day flooded back for many Woody House residents, as boxes filled the hallways and a table of Resident Assistants greeted students and handed them their new keys. The RAs were not permitted to comment on the housing circumstances.
Although most of the students were very positive about the moving experience, there were the inevitable gripes.
"They woke me up at eight and I hate them," said first-year College student and Woody resident Hitesh Patel, who conceded that otherwise, the movers had done "a good job."
The early determination of the movers confused several sleeping students, including first-year College student Quillan Byam.
"They kind of surprised me, how early they came waking people up. I thought it would be when you were ready to move, they would move you, but they kind of came, and they wanted the boxes at eight o'clock," Byam said.
First-year Engineering student Richard Sun of Herndon also thought the movers "did a pretty good job. Except when they woke me up and said, 'Alright let's move!'"
As the bleary-eyed students packed their belongings onto trucks - courtesy of the Housing Department - and bid farewell to groggy roommates, many expressed mixed feelings about moving.
"It's a disadvantage to be leaving the people I'm living with because I've already adjusted," Woody resident and first-year Engineering student Sarah Hobbs explained.
On the other hand, she was happy to leave her cramped triple.
"I was getting claustrophobic," she admitted.
First-year Engineering student Steve Crowell of Springfield, Virginia, agreed.
"I'm excited that it's going to be a new dorm, but I'm not excited in that I've made all my friends in this suite, so I'm going to miss them."
His mother, who made the trek from Northern Virginia to help her son with the transition, said originally "Stephen was a little apprehensive about being a third person in what was started off to be a two-person room. But he's gotten to know all the guys in his suite, and I think that if he'd had his druthers, there were some thoughts about not minding to stay with the guys."
She added that while the new facilities are impressive, "the connection he's made with friends" in his old dorm are equally important and should not be left behind.
This was a concern for several students, including first-year Engineering student and Woody resident Sajid Adhami. "You made friends in the suite and now you have to move out and you gotta do it all over again."
And "the moving itself was kind of a pain, packing all my stuff up," he added.
While hauling belongings across campus early on a Saturday morning may not be everyone's ideal weekend event, the true trials of moving will remain long after the boxes have been unpacked. All of the Woody House inhabitants spent a lot of time and energy adjusting to their old roommates and suitemates. After negotiating everything from shower times to sleep schedules and agreeing on work hours and social hours, the Woody students must start all over.
Even those residents who requested to room together must learn, once again, how to share personal space.
"We've known each other for like, six, seven years," said first-year College student William Potter of his Woody House roommate. Since "this is the first time we've actually lived in the same facility for a long period of time, this might cause problems. But we are here to face it, and we're going to start with new rules and steady ground and we're going to work from there," he said.
On the other end of the spectrum, Byam has spoken to his roommate-to-be "only a few times." Although he thinks "it will be strange" to readjust, he doesn't think it will be a problem. "It's kind of like moving to college all over again," Byam said.
Indeed, several parents came to ease the difficulties of a second "first day of school," and most were incredibly positive about the situation.
First-year College student and Woody resident Tehrae Heflin's father, Stacy, gave the University administration an enthusiastic thumbs up as well.
"Everything has been very nice and convenient. The University staff have people accommodating the students. I think the whole job has been superior."
Nicole Arnold, a first-year College student from Brooklyn, NY, sympathized with the Housing staff. "I think they've been helpful. I think they were kind of put in a rough spot too. There's only so much they can do," she said.
As the new Woody residents and several parents transported boxes and crates and televisions to the rooms, executive vice president and chief operating officer Leonard Sandridge looked on with satisfaction.
Woody's move-in day "has gone very smoothly," he beamed. "Students were well-prepared and we had a lot of housing persons that were here to help them, and it's gone much faster than we expected."
Students also were excited and upbeat about the benefits of their new abode. Heflin extolled the luxuries of the new building: "better bathrooms, air conditioning, heat, elevator..."
Woody residents were also supplied with a micro-fridge to compensate for the inconveniences of the past several months.
But for most residents, the biggest advantage of the University's newest dorm is that it boasts more room for students, all of whom have lived in close quarters with two roommates since the beginning of the year. First-year Engineering student Rick Sledd of Poquoson, Va. thought "the triple situation wasn't exactly the best. The rooms were pretty crowded."
"I needed my space," agreed Heflin. The sentiment was echoed by dozens of residents.
Now that move-in day has come and gone, the residents seem to be in general accord about the advantages of their move.
Byam looked around his room at a mélange of clothes, drawers, books and boxes, and smiled.
"I'm glad to be here," he concluded.
Sandridge was satisfied with the way things went, as well.
"It was not on schedule, it was not when we wanted it, but in the end, everybody rallied and I'm very pleased that it's opening today. Everybody seems to be moving in so well"
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