This weekend, thousands of college students will descend on Orono and Bangor to move into dorms and apartments at the University of Maine, Husson University and Eastern Maine Community College, in a yearly ritual that marks the end of summer and the start of a new chapter in their lives.
Move-in weekend has always brought to mind images of mini-fridges and TVs wrestled up stairs, first meetings with new roommates, and tearful parents waving goodbye to their children who five minutes ago were starting kindergarten.
The Bangor Daily News has documented move-in weekends many times over the years. It used to print yearly special sections for incoming freshmen, like this one from 1986 that touted how Fogler Library had recently been “computerized,” or this one from 1974 that showed off the nearly-finished building that would later be named Neville Hall. In 1968, it highlighted students’ political activities, and detailed the latest fashion trends. In: capes, berets and maxi skirts. Out: neon colors and “hard lines.”
At UMaine, the “hearty Maine hello” has been a tradition for decades, and it continues to this day. Other traditions, like the beanie hats distributed to freshmen in the 1960s, have fallen by the wayside.
Plenty of other colleges also have move-in day this weekend, including Husson University and Eastern Maine Community College. Regardless of which school a student goes to, it’s a big deal — especially when the student is the first in their family to go to college. In 1995, the BDN profiled Ben Morey, a Deer Isle resident who was a first-generation college student when he arrived at UMaine that fall.
In that story, Morey said he felt excited but scared. Looking back on that weekend 27 years later, Morey, now 44 and a lieutenant with the Bangor Fire Department, remembers it fondly — especially now that he’s got a second cousin starting as a freshman this weekend.
“I don’t remember the nerves lasting that long. It was such a different atmosphere than what I grew up with. There was certainly an adjustment period, but exciting at the same time,” Morey said. “I met new people and, although now in different states, we’re still friends. I definitely had the full college experience.”
The things students bring with them to school have changed dramatically over the years. Fifty years ago, some clothes, bedding and a Beatles poster were plenty. Today, laptops, video game consoles and other tech are priority number one — though there’s still a good chance you’ll find a Beatles poster.
At left: Jacquelyn Michaud of Falmouth arranges a tank for her beta fish, Killer, as her mother, Cynthia, helps set up her dorm room at Hart Hall on the University of Maine campus in Orono in August 2003. Credit: Kevin Bennett / BDN ; at right: Roommates Bradley Loeb (left) and Whitney Lofgren-Cross unpack and start to relax at their Knox Hall dorm room in September of 2007 on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono after moving in. Credit: Kate Collins / BDN
The start of the 2022-23 college year will be a welcome change of pace for students and faculty alike, as the vast majority of pandemic-related restrictions have been lifted and things, for the most part, will be back to normal. Two full years of college plus an additional semester were thrown into upheaval after COVID-19 invaded the country — though students still found themselves moving into dorms during those years, albeit masked and socially distant.
People often worry that college students are too this or too that — too technology reliant, not studying hard enough, too political, not political enough. But most of the time, they are probably not too dissimilar from the way they’ve always been — curious, excited about the future, and eager to try anything new that comes their way.
