UNLV welcomes on-campus residents for 22-23 school year
Holly Rutt clutched a pillow against her body as she watched movers organize her things from the back of her car into moving boxes on top of flat dollies.
She followed as the crew wheeled the luggage into UNLV’s Dayton student housing complex. Her mother followed, fighting tears welling in her eyes as she stepped into the room that would be her daughter’s new home.
“I’m eager to get out from where I’m from, to get a new start,” Rutt said. “Like a fresh start.”
On Tuesday, UNLV began to welcome roughly 1,500 new and returning student residents. Among them, were freshman with mixed feelings about moving away from home.
“I’m really sad, I’m gonna miss all my friends,” Gianna Paroline, an incoming freshman from San Diego, said. “But I’m really excited, it’s time for new experiences.”
As students settled in, parents grappled with the realization of their children moving away for the first time.
“I’m excited,” Paroline’s father, Mike, said. “Gianna, I think, is in a really good position mentally and emotionally.”
Paroline is the third child of her household to move out for college. Her parents credited UNLV as the easiest move, largely because of the professional movers who unloaded the Parolines’ car when they pulled up to the Dayton Complex, housing designated for first-year students.
Since 2019, UNLV has partnered with Zippy Shell, a Las Vegas moving company, to help students make their way onto campus. Brian Linsey, the company’s CEO, called partnership “a dream.”
Since temporarily moving to remote learning in 2020 because of the pandemic, 75 percent of UNLV classes this year are being offered on campus, while 25 percent of classes remain exclusively online. The university also fully reopened student housing, offering more than 400 beds to first-year students in the Dayton complex.
“We’re really packed,” said Micheal Amesquita, a residential life coordinator.
Other changes at UNLV this year include adding 200 new student veterans and military family members, with isolated housing to prevent possible coronavirus and monkeypox outbreaks, according to Amesquita.
“People are ready to go,” Amesquita said. On Tuesday, he had already seen groups of students exploring campus, something he usually doesn’t see until the weekend.
As the new students arrived, Mike Paroline glanced at his daughter while she unpacked a box of hangars and placed them in her new closet.
“She’s ready. So I’m feeling pretty good, I’m confident,” he said. “I think it’ll kind of hit emotionally when we drive away.”
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