Elon’s newest students will arrive for Move-In Day on Friday, Aug. 20. Here’s what they have to look forward to, along with resources to help ensure a smooth transition into life and learning at Elon.
Elon University will soon be kicking off a new academic year and welcoming its newest students to campus, with members of the Class of 2025 making their arrival on Friday, Aug. 20.
On Move-In Day, these scores of first-year students will be coming to campus loaded down with suitcases, dorm room decorations and a range of college necessities, as the university community mobilizes to help them begin their time at Elon in the right way.
The Class of 2025 consists of 1,615 first-year students and 78 transfer students. They’ll be arriving from 43 states and 25 countries, with nearly one in five hailing from North Carolina and Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia also among the states best represented. The class is made up of 59 percent women and 41 percent men, with 19 percent from ethnically diverse backgrounds.
The launch of Move-In Day at 8 a.m. on Aug. 20 marks the beginning of a comprehensive and busy New Student Orientation designed to support these students as they get to know Elon and each other, and begin taking their first steps toward an Elon degree.
All first-year students will begin their Move-In Day by checking in at Schar Center at their assigned time (Check your Acorn Account for the assigned time). At check-in, students will receive orientation materials and directions to their move-in location for their residence hall (Find the Move-In Day Map here). Students will be asked to show confirmation that they have uploaded vaccination records to the Phoenix Health Portal by pulling up elon.edu/myreadiness on their smart phone. Students who are unvaccinated will need to complete a COVID-19 test at Schar Center before heading to their residence halls. All students, faculty, staff and campus visitors will be required to wear masks indoors under an updated mask policy announced on Aug. 11.
Organized to operate like a well-oiled machine, Move-In Day is focused on getting these students quickly and efficiently settled into their new homes on campus, whether its on the third floor of an East Neighborhood residence hall, or the first floor of Jackson Residence Hall in the Global Neighborhood.
Hundreds of current Elon students, staff and faculty lend a hand to the effort required to tote clothes, refrigerators, mirrors, works of art, instruments, electronics and shoeboxes into residential communities across campus. Along with more than 100 Elon Orientation Leaders, hundreds of members of student groups and athletic teams are chipping in to make sure the day runs smoothly. It’s an early opportunity for these new students to build connections with members of the campus and to begin to feel the sense of community that will support them in the semesters ahead.
“Move-In Day is the culmination of a lot of decisions and trajectories that have been part of these students’ lives,” said Emily Krechel, director of new student and transitions programs. “It’s all coming to a head as they move into this new experience. On Move-In Day, there is a palpable energy and you can feel the heartbeat of the institution.”
Krechel said that Orientation Leaders have a special role in that they can be some of the first upperclass students the members of the Class of 2025 will interact with. Along with playing a significant role during New Student Orientation, these student leaders will continue helping them thrive throughout their time as an Elon student.
“These Orientation Leaders are going into this looking to make connections with these new students, and these are relationships that can extend well beyond the four days of orientation,” Krechel said. “Feeling those connections can really help ease the transition for these new students.
But moving in is just the start to an exciting and informative series of activities. A complete list of activities during New Student Orientation, which runs through the end of the day on Monday, Aug. 23, is available here.
Staggered move-in times and following your driving directions will help with the high volume of students and their families who will be coming to Elon’s campus during move-in day. The schedule reduces congestion, particularly on roads and parking lots around campus, as well as in the residence hall hallways and stairwells.
After beginning to settle in on Friday morning, these new students and their families will begin a series of information sessions that offer a variety of useful insights into navigating the academic and social aspects of college life. Family members can attend workshops on their first day covering topics such as student health and wellness, academic support, student involvement, the university transition and other subject areas.
Students begin a supportive and informative orientation journey by meeting their Orientation Leaders and small groups, and getting to know fellow students in their neighborhoods.
New Student Orientation doesn’t just play out in classrooms around campus. Students will start getting to know others in their neighborhoods through multiple social and interactive events throughout the weekend.
Friday night brings Late Night Elon in the Moseley Center, which Krechel said will offer students a taste of the variety of events and programming they can expect to see throughout the year.
New Student Convocation on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 21, will officially launch these new students’ careers at the university, with Elon President Connie Ledoux Book welcoming students and their families to campus and sharing her thoughts about the experience they are beginning. The event begins with members of the class gathering in Alumni Gym to hear remarks from Vice President of Student Life Jon Dooley. The class will then process from Alumni Gym through Alamance Building, where they will pass the historic bell that hung in Old Main which was destroyed by fire in 1923, and then take their seats Under the Oaks.
As they depart from Under the Oaks following New Student Convocation, new students will receive the traditional gift of an acorn to mark their start at Elon, one bookend to their time at Elon with the presentation of an oak sapling at Commencement as the other.
Following New Student Convocation, students and their family members will participate in separate College Coffee events. A core Elon tradition, College Coffee is a weekly break and chance to gather on Tuesdays throughout the academic year that brings together students, faculty and staff.
The Old Main bell, New Student Convocation, College Coffee — these are all parts of Elon’s history and its strong sense of tradition that are integrated into new Student Orientation along with the nuts and bolts of getting started with a college career.
“That’s what makes Elon special and different,” Krechel said. “It helps people connect, engage and understand the power of the institution while reflecting on what their journey will entail during the next several years.”
Sunday afternoon offers students the opportunity to participate in the HealthEU program that centers around making health choices while at Elon. Among the topics that will be addressed are gender-based violence, healthy relationships, consent, and alcohol and substance use and abuse. They will also begin exploring topics of identity and inclusion at Elon and will have an opportunity to speak with their peers about who they are and the many aspects of themselves they’re bringing with them to Elon.
Rescheduled in 2020 to become part of New Student Orientation, Monday’s Call to Honor ceremony will bring the Class of 2025 back together as a group in Alumni Gym. This university tradition allows campus leaders and faculty to share with new students the core Honor Code principles — honesty, integrity, responsibility, respect — the university community expects its members to live by.
After the conclusion of New Student Orientation Monday night, members of the Class of 2025 will prepare for their first classes at Elon on Tuesday, Aug. 24.
“It’s such an honor to be part of helping these students get started on the right foot,” Krechel said.