I-Guides help move-in run smoothly

A little after 2 p.m. Thursday, a group of I-Guides grabbed the carts used to move belongings into residence halls and raced them down an inclined sidewalk near the Illinois Street residence halls. The guides had a bit of free time after getting through the morning move-in hours, which they said were the busiest.

Although there were some problems throughout the day, many new students, parents and staff said move-in day was a success.

Charolette Tredup, who moved her son into Illinois Street Residence Hall, said the process went very smoothly.

Chris Rundell, a freshman from Villa Park, Ill., carries bags of his belongings towards his new room at PAR on Thursday, August 20, 2009.
Wesley Fane The Daily Illini

"I just got here and the I-Guides have been very helpful and specific in telling us where to go," Tredup said.

The I-Guides were responsible for directing traffic, answering questions and helping the students with their luggage.

Joyce Otuwa, I-Guide and sophomore in LAS, said it was a lot of fun moving in all of the "eager, green" freshmen.

"I thought it would be more of a 'meet and greet' event, but there was a lot of manual labor involved in it," Otuwa said. "It was important to keep up a chipper attitude and not let them see that I'm hurting."

Jose Diaz, freshman in LAS, said moving in was much easier than he expected.

"I thought it would be much more crowded," Diaz said.

Otuwa said the morning hours between 8 and noon were hectic, but that it got better later.

Megan Keiber, sophomore in the Division of General Studies and an I-Guide, directed traffic along Gregory Street, which was partially closed off.

"It was busier around 10, but it has slowed down a lot," Keiber said.

Many I-Guides who were not needed at other residence halls were sent to Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall, where the congestion was worst, Keiber said.

"There have been a lot of crowds," Keiber said, "There have also been a lot of tired people."

Not everybody agreed that the morning hours were worse than the afternoon hours.

Donald Hruska, freshman in Engineering, said he moved in around 9:30 a.m. and was helped through the process very quickly.

"It probably took about 10 minutes to get here from the highway and about 20 minutes to move in," Hruska said.

"Everybody we talked to was really helpful."

Some of the congestion had cleared up at Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall by early afternoon. Though Bob Miller, who helped his daughter move in, said there were still some problems.

"Now, we're waiting for carts," Miller said, "I see a lot of people and a lot of carts but nobody is helping us."

But Miller said he thought the move-in was still run well overall.

"We've only been here about 20 minutes," Miller said, "I'm sure it would have been much worse in the morning."