Dorms Welcome New Students on Move-In Day
By Kaylee Chen, Tina Huang and Anya Tang
After a month of heavy anticipation, underclassmen arrived onto campus last week and were welcomed with pleasure by the uppers and seniors.
Dorm faculty and proctors organized activities for the newcomers to get them acclimated to the new environment. “We wanted to make them feel really welcome and quickly at home,” Science Instructor and Gould House dorm head Katherine Hernandez said.
Leading up to their arrival on campus, dorm faculty and students prepared extensively for the move-in. “We were in touch with them regularly throughout the days and weeks leading up to their arrival on campus, making sure to answer all questions that they had,” Math Instructor and Knight House dorm head David Huoppi said.
Activities spanned multiple days for both waves of arrivals, according to Hernandez. “Our proctors ran an open Zoom room on Thursday evening, where our students arriving in October could drop by to ask questions about what to pack, what to leave behind and what to expect,” she said. “Many of the uppers and seniors worked together to put together arrangements of sunflowers and small treats to be placed on everyone’s desk. We are trying to bring some light and joy to everyone’s room—those already here and those just arriving.”
Hernandez further explained how the proctors and dorm faculty welcomed the incomers, from helping them move their luggage to organizing in-person events. “We also ran two dorm events on Sunday—a mid-afternoon round of icebreakers over some apple cider doughnuts and an evening fire pit complete with s’mores and hot chocolate,” she continued.
While each dorm had their own activities, most of the preps went on a tour of the campus led by their proctors. “[This was a] great [opportunity] for me to meet new people who weren’t in my grade,” prep Sophia Lala said.
Prep William Lu went into further detail about his day. “For our dorm bonding activity, we played a trivia game about school, and we did a maze game of sorts,” he said. “For non-organized activities, we hung out in the common room, played ping pong [and] went to meals together.”
Dorm bonding was an important theme of the day, and many preps felt welcomed due to this emphasis. However, many of them had already connected online and recognized each other immediately on campus. “I definitely felt very welcome,” Lala said. “I had already been connected to quite a few preps, both day students and boarders, and all of them were extremely inclusive.”
Prep Christopher Serrao enjoyed how the upperclassmen in his dorm made an effort to connect with the lowerclassmen. “From the first moment I arrived, I felt at home. The boys in Peabody were friendly and helped me carry my bags to my room” he said. “They [also] decided to eat lunch with all the preps.”
Huoppi agreed with Serrao on how the upperclassmen were delighted to meet the preps and welcome the lowers back onto campus. “All of the uppers and seniors were very excited to meet them, welcome them, get to know them, answer questions and show them around campus.” Huoppi said.
Some returning students found the arrival on campus rather jarring. Lower day student Clara Gulick, having to spend most of her time outdoors, commented on the new look and atmosphere of campus. “[With] all the buildings being off limits, [campus] feels really funny,” she said. “[Mostly] being on campus and not going to classes.”
Lower Sinna Oumer agreed that the feeling of campus wasn’t the same. “It was all a bit unfamiliar and strange,” she said. “It just felt a little bit off, but I was like, ‘I guess this is it now.’”
She continued with how it was difficult to recognize everyone with their masks on, and depicted the disparities between students’ arrival on campus this year and last year. “When I first came to campus last year, there was all this hugging, hanging out, which really was not present this time around. It felt a lot more muted, and maybe a part of that was because the uppers and seniors came back before we did. It felt sad, a little bit, like this wasn’t the way it was supposed to go.”
In regards to the transition for preps and lowers to the Exeter campus and atmosphere, while the preps are thoroughly enjoying being on campus, some lowers are finding the change a bit disorienting, especially in comparison to their own prep year arrival. Oumer talked about how back at home, she “built [her] routines around social interaction with [her] family [and] how many chores [she] have to do around the house,” and how she had grown accustomed and comfortable to that work schedule. Slowly warming up to the new Exeter environment, she said, “I feel like it’s taken me the week, but I feel like I have it back on track.”
Even though underclassmen arrived on campus a month later, Serrao explained how Exeter has helped the new stage in his life begin. “I am really enjoying Exeter so far. The academics are challenging, the people are amazing, and the opportunities are endless. It truly has surpassed my expectations.”