Move-in day at the dorms means it's 'time to let go'

Before Stacie Powers moved into her dorm at Northern Illinois University, her father had a little chat with her.

He fought back tears as he spoke.

"Wasn't it six months ago that I was holding you in the hospital? And you were a baby?" Terry Powers asked.

"Yeah, Dad, it only took me six months to grow up!" Stacie sarcastically snapped back.

They both laughed but then continued with the task at hand: moving Stacie's stuff out of the house, packing it into the car, driving from Grayslake to DeKalb and schlepping it all up to the ninth floor of NIU's Grant Tower residence hall.

These past two weeks, thousands of suburban families have experienced the chaos, comedy and range of emotions that come with moving a college freshman into the dorm. Often stressed-out and sleep-deprived, new students and their families lug heavy Rubbermaid tubs, sit-up pillows, beloved mementos and all sorts of other can't-live-without items into the tiny rooms that will serve as "home" this year for the Class of 2012.

It's a milestone day that signals the time for parents to let go and for children to embrace their independence. Maturity begins. And so does the partying - sometimes for the kids, sometimes for the parents.

"I'm not scared or sad at all. I'm just so excited," said Keyana Smith of Chicago, as she jumped up and down alongside her mother's van last Thursday - move-in day at NIU.

But for many families, the goodbyes bring tears.

"It's the end of a whole way of life," said teary-eyed parent Mary Jendrycki of Grayslake. "But there are a lot of good things to come."

Transition time

The main thing Kevin Machonis knows about his roommate is that he's a Cubs fan from a small town in central Illinois.

Machonis, of Schaumburg, is a White Sox fan.

"I don't know," said Machonis, as he waited for his roommate to arrive. "I'm excited and nervous at the same time. On Facebook, we have some of the same interests. But you don't really know someone until you've lived with them."

Machonis moved in to his dorm room at NIU last Thursday with help from a crew of friends and relatives. His mother, Cindy, did most of the work. She made his bed with a new comforter, a White Sox blanket and a blanket his Grandma Jean made him with NIU colors. Then she put away all of his clothes, placing dryer sheets in the bottom of the dresser drawers because they were not lined.

Meanwhile, Kevin and his friends concentrated on setting up the cable TV, his laptop and Xbox.

At one point, Cindy reached into a duffle bag and asked for everyone's attention.

"Look who I brought! Surprise!" she shouted, as she waved Fluffy, a stuffed dog that Kevin's had since he was 18 months old. He winced and acted mortified, but then safely tucked Fluffy into a corner near his pillow.

Shouts of "Where do you want this?" filled the room as everyone helped put away the toiletries, food and school supplies. New packages of extension cords and pens were torn open, while microwaveable Easy Mac and toothpaste two-packs were stacked in storage cubbies. When Kevin's aunt unpacked his laundry detergent, everyone laughed.

"He's not going to do laundry!" shouted his cousin, Amber Strum of Schaumburg.

Cindy Machonis is a single mom, and Kevin is her only child. She's always been protective of him. On Kevin's first day of kindergarten, Cindy said she hid in the bushes to make sure he got on the right bus, even though Kevin was saying "I can see you, Mom!" Then she hopped in her car and followed the bus to make sure he got safely to school.

She was the same way on his first day in the dorm. She packed and unpacked everything, even pre-sharpening his pencils and removing the safety seal from his Advil.

"I said to him, 'How often are you going to call me?' And he said. 'Every day?'" And I said, 'That's it?! Only once a day?!'" Cindy said, laughing. "I want him to be here, and I know he's going to be fine. He's a good kid. But it's hard to let go."

When it was time to say goodbye, it was Kevin who got the most emotional.

"It's always been just me and her, so I'll miss her," he said, "but I'll be home over Labor Day, with my laundry."

In the pink

Down the hall, best friends Stacie Powers and Denise Jendrycki were moving into their dorm room. The Grayslake High School graduates both have boyfriends in the Navy, and are majoring in nursing. They packed color-coordinated pink, black and white dorm room decor, which matched right down to the clothes hangars. They even used pink marker on their wipe-off board to draw flowers and write "Welcome 2 Denise & Stacie's Room! Come on in!"

As they unpacked in their room - too small for the teens and their families - their parents stood in the hall, watching and waiting.

Stacie's mother laughed at the sight of her daughter making her bed. Apparently, that didn't happen much at home.

"I'm going to be making my bed for the rest of my life now!" Stacie said.

While Jendrycki's dad hooked up the laptops and cable TV - and tried to figure out where to put the TV - the girls covered their bulletin boards with stylish fabric and put out dozens of framed pictures of their friends and boyfriends.

They joked about doing the dorm room dance from the Target commercial, when suddenly another shopping cart full of their stuff appeared in the doorway.

"Now we have souvenirs from third grade," joked Denise's mother, Mary. "It's going to be interesting in there, with the two of them. Like Lucy and Ethel."

'Organized chaos'

NIU's move-in program is more organized than most. As cars pull up, golf carts and student volunteers approach and help unload everything. The university president is among the volunteers.

Once at the dorm entrance, students get their room keys and their stuff is loaded into shopping carts. Then they have to wait in line for the elevator. Even though they try to speed things up by designating one elevator car for the lower floors and one for the upper floors, the line still snakes through the lobby. NIU spokesman Joe King refers to the day as "organized chaos."

It's like that all across the country. Throughout August and September, college students flock to campuses large and small. They haul their boxes, stretch their linens across dorm mattresses and check out their new neighbors down the hall.

In all, 4,700 NIU students moved in last Thursday (although not all at Grant Tower). Most filled three or more golf carts with their stuff.

That's the size of the load freshman Chelsea Moan of Crystal Lake brought with her.

"It's the cleanest I've seen her room in years. I can see the floor!" joked her father, Randy Moan.

But Chelsea's mom, Elena Margan, started to cry at the thought of her daughter not living at home anymore.

"It's an exciting time for her," she said. "It's a new chapter in her life, so it's time to let go."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=230244">Move-in made easy <span class="date">[08/28/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>