After packing their suitcases and stuffing their car trunks, 3,681 freshmen made their way to Cornell on Monday, bringing a lively commotion back to a quiet North Campus.
From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Cornell welcomed its new freshmen with friendly smiles, sunshine and a mid-day drizzle. Red pom poms and a chorus of orientation leaders yelling “Welcome to Cornell!” greeted the incoming freshmen and their families, introducing the students to their new home.
One incoming freshman, Mikhail Ahmad ’30, traveled 12 hours with his dad, Sami Ahmad, to get to the Hill for move-in. Driving up from North Carolina was a “journey,” Mikhail said, but he was excited to be on campus.
“Hearing the cheering made me feel confident, like this is the place I want to be,” he said about the orientation leaders’ welcome.
Sami called the move-in “bittersweet,” but found some comfort in his son’s rooming arrangements — by coincidence, Mikhail would be living in the same building and on the same floor as his cousin did years ago.
“It’s sad to let go of your firstborn and let them off on their journey, but it has its pluses and minuses,” Sami told The Sun. “He'll be pretty far away, but he also has to begin his life. I’m excited for him.”
Fifty orientation leaders prepared for move-in, rotating four-hour shifts around campus. One orientation leader, Argenis Alas ’29, explained that the team aims to “hype up” the freshmen and make them feel supported.
“We’re really trying to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone because Cornell is the place where everyone is seen — ‘any person, any study,’” he said.
Besides the orientation leaders’ pom pom waving duties, the leaders chatted with incoming freshmen, answered questions and took pictures of families posing with a “Big Red” sign and balloons. One student even challenged an orientation leader to a game of rock paper scissors, winning the leader’s Cornell bucket hat in the process.
“It’s made my heart feel warm seeing all the freshmen who smile back [and] who wave back,” Alas said. “Overall, you can tell that they want to be here and they’re excited to be here.”
North Campus looked notably different than a typical school day, as parents, grandparents, pets, family friends and young children meandered between the buildings. Parents walked hand-in-hand with their now college-age children and lugged their overladen boxes across campus.
General volunteers and a moving team worked across North Campus, with the former dressed in bright red tees reading “How can I help?” and the latter easily spottable in neon yellow garb.
As freshmen arrived for their move-in time slots and left to decorate their dorm rooms, the moving team stayed on campus as a constant source of support. Beycker Perez, a moving team member, worked from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, and was all smiles while describing his experience.
“It’s my first time here and I love it,” Perez said. “It makes me happy seeing everybody happy. … It’s been a pretty long day. A happy day, too, amazing day.”
He added that the moving team kept a lighthearted note of the largest number of moving boxes needed for a single incoming freshman’s possessions — midway through the day, their record was five.
Freshman move-in day was an all-hands-on-deck event, with members of the men’s football team lending a hand to unload cars and transport moving boxes.
Sharon Martinson, a research scientist at the Lab of Ornithology, began working as a move-in volunteer two years ago, the same year she began working on campus. She directed traffic on North Campus and answered questions on the sidewalk on Monday.
“I like welcoming new people because I know what it’s like to be brand new,” Martinson said. “I’m still pretty new [to Cornell] and we’ve all experienced being new in other circumstances. I think it’s nice to have a friendly face, a smile.”
While move-in can be overwhelming, Martinson said that her goal is to make the experience a bit easier and more exciting for both the students and the parents. She said that this year’s move-in seemed smoother than the previous two she had experienced.
This year, incoming freshmen checked in and collected their keys on campus, rather than previous years where all students were directed to check in at The Shops at Ithaca Mall. Each vehicle also got an identification card that was identifiable by move-in volunteers and directed the drivers to their designated areas.
Will Burrell ’30, an incoming freshman, told The Sun that the moving process was “super easy” with the move-in team’s support. He described it as a “transition-less,” in-and-out process.
After a last family golf outing and a four-hour drive from Vermont, Ithaca College alumna Rebecca Claffey and Cornell alumnus Chuck Claffey ’91 returned once again to Ithaca — this time to move in their son, incoming freshman Liam Claffey ’30.
The entire process went very smoothly, Rebecca said. With empty blue IKEA bags in tow, Rebecca and Chuck said that they were on their way to grab a nostalgic Pines burger from Glenwood Pines as a celebratory post-move-in meal.
“I don’t know what civil engineer worked on [the move-in process], but the parking [and] everything was down to a T,” Rebecca told The Sun.
Varsha Bhargava is a member of the Class of 2027 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is the managing editor for the 144th Editorial Board and was a news editor for the 143rd Editorial Board. She can be reached at vbhargava@cornellsun.com.
