Thousands of volunteers help incoming freshman move in at Baylor

WACO, Texas (KWTX) -Thousands of people flocked to Baylor University Wednesday as freshmen kicked off the move-in process.

“You invite these people in, you welcome them, you show them that they are not alone and show them that they are coming into the family,” student volunteer Jackson Bush said.

More than 2,000 volunteers and staff packed Baylor’s campus to cheer on new students, offer a helping hand to families, and carry all of the student’s belongings to their new home.

“I just think it’s crazy that this many people are willing to help you move in and I just think it just shows the Baylor family and how everyone is just super excited to join and be a part of this family,” incoming freshman Emma McDonald said.

“We have volunteers from the community from a number of churches and para-church organizations coming to be a part of it so it’s not just a Baylor activity, it’s a community activity,” President Linda Livingstone said.

Livingstone says this year’s freshman class is a little different from previous years, bringing in a smaller class.

“The last couple of years we have had very large classes about 3,700 and 4,200,” she said. “This year we intentionally drew down the size of the class. We anticipate it being around 3,300, maybe smaller than that so frankly, that makes move in a little easier particularly this year as our largest residence is being renovated.”

Although it’s a smaller number of students moving in this week, they say they are just thankful to be together after facing so many challenges during the pandemic.

“We have so many events that we put on both dorm-wide and Baylor-wide so it’s just so exciting that everyone is coming back,” student volunteer Morgan Keime said.

Students will continue to move in on Thursday.

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