VSU students resume dorm life

Published 9:20 pm Monday, December 5, 2005

VALDOSTA — Just after noon Saturday, Valdosta State University freshman Shanice Richardson smiled as she and her family unloaded the trunks of their cars, hauling clothing and other items to her room in Brown Hall, a coed residence hall.

Luckily, they did not have too much to carry. As a returning student, Richardson was able to leave as much of her belongings as she desired in her room during the Christmas break.

“I am so happy to be back,” said the second-semester Sociology major.

Richardson said she spent the approximately one month break between fall semester and spring at her home in Blakely.

“I was beginning to get really bored,” she said. “I can’t wait to get the semester started.”

However, the experience was a little different for Nicole Robinson, who just transferred to the university after earning an Associates’s Degree at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton.

“I am a little nervous,” she said, waiting to cross the driveway and enter her new home. “But I am also excited.”

Robinson’s nervousness was partly due to the fact that she was sharing a room for the first time with a total stranger.

“I should be meeting my roommate soon,” she said. “I don’t know anything about her.”

Robinson spent most of the morning packing her belongings into one of two automobiles. After about an hour’s drive from her hometown of Tifton, she arrived on the campus of Valdosta State University around 2 p.m.

The junior transfer plans to continue her studies in Mass Media.

Compared to fall semester when hundreds of students and their parents converged on the campus at one time, the spring semester move was rather slow.

Benita Madison, a front desk employee at Hopper Hall, an all-women’s residence hall, said she has not been bombarded by a group of students all day.

“They have just been trickling in,” she said. “After 10 a.m., they are free to move in whenever they like. I expect that to happen throughout the weekend.”

Brown Hall Resident Advisor Brandon Phillips agreed.

“Since there are not that many new students moving on campus this semester, things are pretty slow right now,” he said. “Many of our returning students won’t come back until the last minute. I expect a mad rush late Sunday evening.”

Spring semester classes begin Monday.



To contact reporter Jessica Pope, please call 244-3400, ext. 255.