The parking lot in front of the Kline Campus Center might be mistaken for a pep rally on this cool and bright Thursday morning in late August. As a slow-moving line of cars turns from East College Street into the parking lot, Associate Vice President for Student Life Liz Howley confirms the occupants’ names and then directs them through a gauntlet of dancing, cheering, pompom-waving Bridgewater College students and staff. At the front of the line is Autumn Sissler ’26, a psychology major and Soar Mentor, holding a large sign reading “Welcome BC First Years.” This is move-in day for the Class of 2028 and the beginning of Welcome Week: their official integration into the BC family.
Once students and their families make it through the welcome gauntlet, they are given keys and directed to their respective residence halls. There, a crew of student, staff and alumni volunteers—aptly named the Eagles We-Haul team—help unload the vehicles and carry the students’ belongings into their new home. Some volunteers direct traffic and answer questions, while others carry mini-fridges or boxes and duffle bags full of belongings that seem like they can’t possibly all fit; but somehow, they do.
Alumni Ben Wampler ’82 and Sherrie Wampler ’85 of Nokesville, Va. are among the volunteers this morning. They began volunteering for Eagles We-Haul more than a decade ago when their oldest daughter, Katelyn Wampler ’14, was a first-year student and eventually moved all four of their children into BC residence halls. They also remember how much more difficult move-in was 40-plus years ago when they had to move in everything themselves.
Rod Gehr ’70, another Eagles We-Hauler, also comments on how different move-in is today than when he moved into the third floor of Heritage Hall in 1966.
“I think I moved in with two suitcases,” he laughs, adding that family members today seem to really appreciate the extra help moving in all their students’ belongings.
One of those family members is Jason Tenberg of Warrenton, Va. He is passing his daughter’s boxes from the back of his pickup truck to awaiting We-Haulers who carry them into nearby Dillon Hall. He says he was pleasantly surprised at the warm welcome and helping hands.
Another We-Hauler is Shannon Koene of Blacksburg, Va. Neither an alumna nor student, Koene is parent of Emelyn Koene ’26, a computer science major and Resident Advisor. On this morning, she is all smiles as she points families to parking spots next to Dillon Hall.
“It was the best thing ever,” she says of the Eagle We-Haulers who helped her daughter move into BC two years ago. “Our oldest went to a larger school and it was exhausting. When we moved Emelyn in it was like magic. It was so great that I came back to volunteer the next year.”
“I love this little school,” she adds. “It has really captured my heart.”
Ron Ramsey ’88 of Staunton, Va., says that what he loves best about volunteering is seeing all the new faces and helping families feel at ease.
“It shows the families that Bridgewater meant something to us and still means so much that we’re willing to come back,” he says.
As for the new students, they’re just busy unpacking their things, getting settled and figuring out where they’re supposed to be next. One first-year student from the Richmond, Va. area, Henry Wicker ’28, took a moment from unloading his car to say that he is “pretty excited” to be at BC and looking forward to the rest of Welcome Week.
– Heather Cole & Eli Quay ’20
