Do you remember the exact moment your parents drove off after moving you into college? I do, distinctly.
I watched as the car drove down the hill before turning out of sight. I remember taking a deep breath, and looking around at this new home I had just inhabited. It was an early fall, the sun beaming nearly sideways as it waned in the afternoon sky. Even though I had visited the university dozens of times before, it all had a new feel to it, because I belonged to it for the first time. Before I was a visitor in someone else’s home, but at that moment, it was mine. My school.
I remember walking back up to my residence hall room, sitting down in the room my family had meticulously set up for me over the previous four hours. I sat in my swivel desk chair and simply looked around the room, silently nodding to myself as if to say, “Okay, here we go.” The optimism and anticipation blended beautifully with the face slap realization that I was now truly out on my own. All of the things my parents, teachers, and mentors had taught me would now get a live fire test.
This is why I love this time of year and have spent a considerable amount of my life being involved in one way or another with college move-in. I have seen hundreds of move-in days, my own of course, and the students with whom I have worked. Not a day has gone by this week without move-in texts and photos popping up on our phones. The pilgrimage, the excitement, the campus vibes, the organization, and then the afternoon when the family cars drive off and the students mill about for the first time, it’s magical.
This year, Golden Educational Consulting was honored to help some phenomenal students find their way to 19 different colleges and universities across 13 U.S. states. Nineteen different adventures waiting to unfold for some truly amazing young people.
So, congratulations to the Class of 2026 on college move-in! We hope you students also get a moment to take it in, to look around you at where your hard work has gotten you, and feel that sense of optimism and pride as your new home becomes your school.
Oh and be sure to call your mom.
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