New Erskine President, Volunteers Help Freshmen Move In

DUE WEST, SC – September 7, 2010 – Erskine College and Seminary President Dr. David A. Norman joined an enthusiastic group of faculty, staff and upperclassman volunteers Friday to help incoming students as they moved into the freshman residence halls.

“I’ve been in this building before,” the president said as he paused outside Carnegie Hall, where freshman women were moving in. “But now we’re getting to watch it come alive.”

  While the president hauled freshman gear up the dormitory steps, up the staircase and down hallways, his wife K.D. greeted students and their families and kept an eye — and usually a hand — on 14-month-old Ezra, the couple’s youngest son, dubbed “the presidential baby” by some of the student volunteers. The Normans also have two older sons, Noah and Asher.

In an atmosphere charged with anticipation, parents helped their sons and daughters settle in for an extended time away from home.

For many of the freshmen, Erskine has already started to feel comfortable.

“I fell in love with the small atmosphere,” Lauren Ashley said. “I love how personal everything is.”

A graduate of Abbeville High School who plans to major in psychology, she is moving only a few miles from her home in Abbeville. Her grandmother, Melva Kay, said Lauren is the first of her grandchildren to go off to college, and she is happy she chose a school so close to home.

Still, Lauren’s mother, Shannon Stone, said, “I have butterflies.”

For some freshmen, a personal introduction to Erskine plays a role in the decision to come to Due West. Johnny Uy of Inman, moving in with the help of his father, Ngy Uy, and his mother, Shuzhu Chen, said he learned about Erskine from the youth minister at his church, 2007 Erskine graduate Steven Ragan.

The Boiling Springs High School graduate also visited Erskine and liked “the feel of the campus.” He hopes to major in athletic training and is thinking about playing tennis.

Erskine’s small size can be attractive to students. Chris Henry, son of Kirk and Lisa Henry of Lexington, graduated from White Knoll High School, a community of nearly 2,000 students. But he chose Erskine because he knew he could get one-on-one attention from professors here. Since he’s considering a pre-med major, that personal attention could be important, and for him, it has already begun.

“I talked with Dr. Mina,” he said, referring to the physician who is a member of Erskine’s biology faculty.

Many students make their college choice during their junior or senior year in high school, but Meghan Ashley has had Erskine in mind for a long time.

 “I’ve wanted to go to Erskine since I was in the second grade,” she said. The daughter of Freddy and Stacy Ashley in nearby Honea Path, she is a graduate of Belton-Honea Path High School who wants to major in early childhood education.

For Kelly Dalziel of Ocean, N.J., daughter of Glenn and Jennifer Dalziel and a graduate of Ocean Township High School, it wasn’t familiarity or proximity that made Erskine her choice. “I wanted a change,” she said.

So, although her twin sister Kaitlyn enrolled at a large school in their home state, Kelly, who is interested in orthodontics, plans to be a pre-medical major at Erskine and has signed to play lacrosse. 

In both freshman residence halls, Carnegie and Grier, the energy level was high Friday morning, and Erskine’s president, nearly as new to the campus as the freshmen, reveled in it.

“You can just listen to the voices — not to what people are saying — and you can hear the excitement,” Norman said. “This is a little taste of the fun we’re going to have this year!”