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Goodbye, Mom and Dad. Hello, college life! It's move-in time for freshmen at Mary Washington. Date published: 8/22/2002
THEY WERE READY. Before 8 a.m. yesterday, parents had parked on the brick-paved lanes around Mary Washington College's Virginia Hall, waiting to unload suitcases and bedding and daughters. As soon as they were allowed in, families and their freshmen launched into a controlled frenzy of efficiency. They filed up stairwells like ants carrying 50 times their body weight. And they did it over and over and over. Roommates exchanged first-impression hellos while parents struggled with lofts, desks and computer hookups. It was the same all over the Fredericksburg campus, where 863 freshman women and men moved into five of the college's 17 dormitories. Total enrollment of 892 freshmen makes this the largest MWC class ever. Move-in time was limited, as school officials kindly but strongly urged parents to leave the nest by 2 p.m. They looked strong and brave and scared. The parents, that is. But they were ready. "I'm kind of looking forward to it," said Bob Decker of Alexandria, settling daughter Catherine into Virginia Hall, the college's only single-sex freshman dorm. "It's sort of natural," Decker said. "It's what we've been working for over the past 12 years in school, so you'd better be mentally prepared." Still, despite months of planning and anticipation some parents found that the day crept up on them emotionally. "Our daughter is just a little angel, and she's going to be awfully lonely," said an anxious Lindy Mayo of Charlottesville. "I don't know who's going to wake her up in the morning, because her mother's woken her up for the past 17 years," Mayo said. "The alarm clock," answered a smiling Sarah Mayo. The rest of the Mayo family--dad John, brother Josh, 21, and sister Kelsey, 13--were on hand to wish Sarah well. But getting out by 2 p.m. wasn't in the cards. While Sarah went off to orientation, the family went to Wal-Mart for curtain rods. A little parental lingering is not unusual, said Christine Porter, the college's director of residence life. "I see everything from parents who drop their students off at the door and say goodbye to parents who are still around four days later," she said. Peri and Michael Ferris of Malibu, Calif., weren't trying to cling.
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