The annual move-in day at Oak Hill marks the start of the fall semester at UMSL

Dozens of volunteers, including UMSL faculty, staff and students, helped freshmen and their families move their belongings from their vehicles to their dorm rooms.

Volunteers helped new freshmen move into their new dorms at Oak Hill on Thursday. (Photos by Derik Holtman)

Hour after hour on Thursday morning, the red cars repeated a familiar cycle in Oak Hall, the 12,000-square-foot dormitory on the south campus of the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

They entered the dorm, which was filled to the brim—sometimes to the brim—with everything this year’s freshmen would need for their new home at UMSL. When they left the dorm, the items were empty, pushed by volunteers walking back to the line of carts waiting to unpack. The cycle repeated over and over, fueled by an endless number of students, staff, and faculty standing by to ensure everything ran smoothly.

Yes, Thursday was move-in day at UMSL.

Louie the Triton came to welcome the new students and their families to Oak Hall.

Each new freshman was greeted near the door, just to the left of the check-in desks, by Elijah McCoy and his colleagues from the Office of Student Involvement. With music playing and McCoy on the microphone, the mood was good all morning.

“Our job was to coordinate the volunteers, make sure they came here, and beyond that, promote the work of our office and keep the energy up so the students are excited about moving in,” McCoy said, smiling. “I’m excited to be here and make sure the students are happy and have a great time. We’re here to have fun.”

The fall semester classes began on Monday.

The halls of Oak Hall were bustling with activity on Thursday.

For some freshmen like Iziah Purvey, the drive to UMSL’s campus was relatively short. A celebrated freshman on the men’s basketball team, Purvey played high school basketball at Webster Groves. The 6-foot-5 forward averaged 15.8 points and 9.4 rebounds in his final season.

At UMSL, he will rejoin Matt Enright, who topped the Tritons in points last season and helped recruit Purvey. They were teammates on the 2021-22 Webster Groves team that won the Missouri Class 5 state championship.

Volunteers helped carry students’ belongings from their cars directly to their dorm rooms.

“Being able to play with someone I’ve been playing with for a while,” Purvey said with a grin, “it’s a good place for me.”

Purvey said the person relaxing in the dorm might be a little different than the person people see in a game.

“I’m pretty laid back and relaxed,” Purvey said. “On the field, I take things pretty seriously. I want to win. I don’t like losing. When I come here, I want to make a big impression in my first year and have a good season with the team.”

Telisa Williams graduated from high school this spring in Houston, Texas, but grew up in St. Louis and also had ties to UMSL when she came to Oak Hall. Her mother, Myrina Otey, is a UMSL graduate, so UMSL just seemed like the natural choice.

Volunteers and staff also helped keep the elevators running efficiently.

“Part of it is because of my family,” Williams said. “I missed home. And my mom came here too, so I thought I could follow her trend.”

Williams admitted to being a little nervous on move-in day, but appeared determined and focused as she talked about her nursing education at UMSL.

“I want this so much,” she said. “I won’t let anything stop me.”

Adam Campbell and his mother, Stacy, made the eight-hour drive from their home in Ruston, Louisiana. How did someone from Ruston end up at UMSL?

“I started my search by looking for a school that had a good swim team and a Japanese program, and this school had both, so it was perfect,” Campbell said. “I started taking Japanese in 10th grade and knew that was what I wanted to pursue. This school had business, Japanese and the swim team – a really good swim team – so it was an easy choice.”

Adam Campbell and his mother Stacy sort through Adam’s things after driving up from Louisiana.

This transition to college so far from home had a big impact on Stacy and Adam.

“He’s my third child, but my first to move out,” said Stacy Campbell. “The two older ones and our youngest are still at home. It’s an adjustment.”

Campbell has a clear career path in mind as he prepares to begin his journey at UMSL.

“I want to work as a translator for commercial companies, either abroad or in the United States, or a mixture of both,” Campbell said.