NSU move-in day marks new chapter for first-year students and families
Students and families are arriving at Northwestern State University Aug. 14-15 as they prepare for the start of fall classes Monday.
NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University students are moving into campus residence halls Aug. 14-15 ahead of the start of the fall semester Monday, Aug. 17.
For incoming first-year students and their families, move-in marks the transition from preparing for college to beginning a new chapter on campus. Students and their families are unloading vehicles, setting up residence hall rooms and preparing for the first week of classes.
Incoming first-year student Anna Baggett of Haughton got an early start on that transition Thursday, Aug. 13. Baggett, who will study kinesiology, moved into University Place a day early as a member of the President’s Leadership Program.
“I am super excited and stressed because I just want to get it all in and decorate my room and get a routine going,” Baggett said.
Baggett said she plans to get involved on campus through the President’s Leadership Program and Baptist Collegiate Ministry and is considering participating in sorority recruitment. She is also looking forward to Demon Days activities and getting to know her professors and other students in her major.
Baggett said her experience with Northwestern State began with the connections she made during her first visit to campus.
“I chose NSU because from the first time I came on campus, everyone was trying to get to know me and wanted to do things that were best for me and just help me get to where I want to be in the future,” she said.
For Baggett’s mother, Stephanie Baggett, her daughter’s move-in represented the culmination of months of preparation and anticipation for the entire family.
“It’s a lot. It’s a lot of emotions, it’s a lot of work, but it’s nice,” Stephanie Baggett said. “The anxiousness of everything over the past four or five months since she graduated high school. It’s like it’s all here. It’s finally here and time to get her moved in, and so there is some relief to that, but nervousness as well.”
Like her daughter, Stephanie Baggett said the family’s first visit to Northwestern State helped ease some of the uncertainty surrounding the transition to college.
“From the first time that we visited NSU, everyone has been so welcoming and engaging,” she said. “It made the feeling so much easier, like just a comfort in knowing that this is where she is supposed to be, and so that has been super helpful to know that it is going to be an easy transition for her.”
As Anna Baggett prepares to begin classes and settle into college life, her mother said she is looking forward to watching what comes next.
“I’m just proud of the person that she has become,” Stephanie Baggett said. “It’s been a journey and just a wonderful 18 years of getting to see her grow into the young lady that she is, and so it is just a pleasure to get to watch her now grow into adulthood and for us to get to see what is next for her.”