For two hours Saturday, the campus at Kentucky Wesleyan College was filled with parents and new students, most of them accompanied by a mini-fridge, a microwave and boxes of personal belongings. KWC hosted their new student move-in day from 10 a.m. until noon.
According to Eddie Kenny, KWC’s Executive Director of External Relations, this year’s incoming freshman class is the largest class in over a decade at KWC.
“We’ve got over 300 incoming freshmen,” said Kenny, who added that athletes and transfer students had already moved in to their dorms. Returning students will move in Sunday.
KWC’s Alumni Association Board of Directors also had their first meeting on Saturday, coinciding with the new student move-in. Kenny said doing both events together provided some first-day reminiscence to board members and allowed them to assist with the move-ins.
Incoming freshman Brittany DeMattio was with her family as they helped move belongings into Kendall Hall. DeMattio, who’s from Ohio, isn’t nervous about starting college, let alone life in a new city.
“I’m more excited than nervous,” she said. DeMattio will be studying Zoology at KWC and said her dad was looking for a job in Owensboro when she stumbled upon the campus.
Though the job didn’t work out, DeMattio felt good about about what KWC had to offer. “I came because I still love this campus,” she said.
DeMattio’s parents have sent an older son away to school, but that doesn’t make their second experience any easier.
“This is my baby,” said DeMattio’s mother. “We’re staying the weekend before we head back.”
Kenny said KWC is hosting a cookout with the families tonight as part of the send-off celebration.
Returning KWC students helped families move belongings from cars to dorm rooms, an act Kenny takes pride in. “All of our students are so supportive and welcoming of new students,” he said. “It’s exactly what we’re about here.”
Another welcoming tradition–and a tradition, in general–is the decorating of the Minerva statue, which resides in one of the courtyards on campus. Today, the Minerva statue, a limestone ornament that remained intact following a 1905 fire that burned down the main college building in Winchester, was spray-painted in gold Sigma Nu letters.
“It’s a great tradition,” said Kenny. “Students decorate it for Christmas. Before today, it was painted to welcome new students to campus, but it looks like Sigma Nu got ahold of it since then.” Kenny says students usually add their touches to the statue of the Roman goddess at nighttime.
