An eager Class of 2026—and all of their creature comforts—descended on Farmville and Longwood’s campus this week, amid unseasonably cool summer temps and an air of excitement that comes with beginning a new life chapter.
Traditionally, the sweltering mid-August heat and humidity make move-in days perspiration-drenched experiences. But this week’s mild summer temperatures provided a welcome reprieve for the families, students, and cadre of Peer Mentors and staff helpers hauling boxes, furniture and college life essentials inside Moss, Johns, Sharp and Register, the residence halls where the majority of freshmen live.
Members of the women’s basketball team were among the friendly faces who showed up to help the freshmen and their parents cart their belongings—minifridges, cases of ramen, crates of snacks and even a few futons—inside.
There were other signs of the return to normalcy after two years of pandemic protocols. Gone were mask requirements and limits on how many people could accompany new students during move-in. But unchanged were the usual hugs, tears, photos and mixed emotions of anticipation and butterflies as families said their goodbyes.
New friends, new experiences and a new home for the next four years await the more than 1,000 new students Longwood is welcoming to campus this fall—members of a class that is the most talented, academically gifted and diverse in university history. The Cormier Honors College for Citizen Scholars is boasting its largest class of incoming students ever—220 freshmen, plus an additional 30 transfer students.
Honors College freshmen moved in on Sunday and began a four-day retreat on Monday. After the retreat wrapped up on Thursday, CHC freshmen gathered outside of Wheeler Hall, the residence hall that houses mostly Honors College scholars, and helped arriving non-CHC freshmen with move-in.
“That’s the kind of class this is,” said Dr. Chris Kuuk, the Wilma Register Sharp and Marc Boyd Sharp Dean of the Honors College. “I got goosebumps when I heard about that. They could have just been chilling in their rooms, but instead, they were helping others. That’s compassion!”
Below, we caught up with eight freshmen who moved in this week, asking them about what brought them to Longwood, what they did this summer, what they plan to study and what they are looking forward to most as they prepare to begin their college adventure.
Original source can be found here.
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