On Sunday, the College offcially welcomed the Class of 2013 to campus. A number of media were on hand to report on the students moving in.
To view a report aired by Channel 6, the local CBS affiliate, click here.
Below is the text of a story that appeared in The Daily Gazette, written by Lee Coleman:
SCHENECTADY — The 525 members of the Union College class of 2013 arrived on campus Sunday morning to register and move into their dorm rooms.
Students and parents carrying boxes and suitcases climbed up dorm stairways after the students registered.
“Things are going smoothly,” said Kate Schurick, dean of first year students. She said this year’s class is somewhat smaller than the average Union class of 560 students.
The first-year students and 21 transfer students registered in The Nott Memorial in the center of the historic campus.
They had their identification card photos taken and picked up fat envelopes filled with information about campus life and their academic schedules.
“It’s so pretty,” said Elizabeth Hackert of Ballston Spa about the Union campus. Cloudless, sunny weather in the mid-70s made the campus sparkle.
Hackert plans to study psychology at Union and will live on campus in the West College dorm even though she only lives about 45 minutes away.
“This brings back memories,” said Catherine Hackert, Elizabeth’s mother. She said she can clearly remember arriving at SUNY Potsdam as a freshman some 30 years ago.
“She’s away without being away,” Catherine Hackert said about her daughter going to college so close to home.
Elizabeth plans to play softball at Union. She played third base for the Ballston Spa High School softball team.
The freshmen and transfer students will attend three days of orientation and start classes Wednesday. The upper class students move in today and Tuesday.
A total of 41 upper class students volunteered to be orientation advisors to the 525 first-year students, Schurick said. She said these advisors spend all three days with groups of freshmen to help them adjust to campus life.
Nicholas Fleagle of Seattle, Wash., and his father, John, flew in from Seattle on Friday.
“We stopped in Chicago,” Fleagle said about his flight across the country.
Fleagle said he brought two suitcases and a backpack. The backpack was filled with electronic gear students enjoy, such as an X-Box game player.
Fleagle said he visited Union College in his sophomore year of high school and decided then he wanted to come across the country to study mechanical engineering at the private college of 2,300 students in downtown Schenectady.
He said he liked the concept that he would receive a “balanced” education at Union with some liberal arts courses, not just straight engineering courses.
Part of the registration process was signing up with college health services.
Barbara Lahey, the college’s medical director, said each student and each parent received a letter explaining measures to combat the pandemic H1N1 flu, known as swine flu.
“We are prepared for an outbreak of the flu, should it occur,” Lahey said.
The letters to the students and information on the college Web site explain how to prevent catching the flu.
“We urge students to use proper hand washing,” Lahey said. Other measures include keeping their hands away from their mouth and eyes.
Guidelines issued by the Center for Disease Control explain that if a student catches the H1N1 flu they are asked, if possible, to return to their home by private, as opposed to public, transportation.
Colleges across the country are telling their students ways to limit the spread of the flu.
Lahey said currently the H1N1 flu symptoms are mild with an average length of sickness between two and four days.
But health authorities fear that the pandemic flu virus could mutate and become much more virulent.
At Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs first-year students were also moving onto campus on Sunday. They have also been alerted to the H1N1 flu guidelines by the college’s health services department.
A total of 650 members of the Skidmore Class of 2013 will also be attending three days of orientation meetings, social gatherings and educational presentations before classes start Wednesday.
As many as 1,000 cars and other vehicles were expected on the Skidmore campus Sunday as parents dropped off their students for their first year at the private, liberal arts college on North Broadway.