Warm Welcome 2026

On August 18th, I had a great experience volunteering to help students move in to their dorms at the LLC dorm at the University of Memphis. This was my first time ever helping out with move in, and this experience was very rewarding. Many volunteers and me welcomed cars pulling in, and we helped unload the items from each car. We placed the items of the students moving in into separate bins labeled with the students room number. Each of us then rolled the bins upstairs to each room, and went back down to the car line and repeated the process during this service. This service impacted me a lot, and even more than I expected, because just several years ago I was a freshman moving in to my dorm for the first time, so having the opportunity to witness and assist new college students with their move in was a special feeling for me. Another way this service impacted me was during the service I was able to meet students I haven't met before and have meaningful connections with them. This includes some volunteers and some of the students I was helping move in. It was special and neat hearing different people's stories and goals for this school year. This service impacted the University of Memphis community by bringing together volunteers, mainly composed of leaders in the student body and some staff, to celebrate the new students moving in and to make their move in experience as efficient and easy on them as possible. Moving in all by yourself can be very difficult and scary. It can also take time away from time some students spend with their families before they say bye if they have to focus time on moving their own items. So it was nice that this service was available so us volunteers could move their items to their rooms, while the students moving in did not have to stress about hauling everything up to their rooms, and instead they had extra time to spend with family. Overall, this was a great experience for me, and I hope to volunteer again next year.