Members of the Mens’ Timberwolves Basketball team  roll a cart carrying a student’s belongings through misty conditions to  residence – photo  courtesy UNBC

Prince George, B.C. – It’s Move In  day at the University of Northern B.C.,  as  536 students take their spot in the  residences at the University.

Dr. Dan Ryan and two of his daughters, ready to help those moving in to the University residences- photo 250News

“The residences are full”  says  UNBC Provost, Dr. Dan Ryan, “That’s 536 beds.”

Dr. Ryan says there had to be some  extra work done  before  students  could   move in,  as the residences were used during the evacuation of Williams Lake.  “We were home to about 70 assisted living patients from Interior Health. They were here from mid-July  to about the  20th of August.  So a lot of the rooms had been rearranged  and set up for those  patients.   As soon as they moved out, Northern Health was a great help in coming in and getting  things re-set up for the students. We managed  to get all that done in a couple of days, and then we had to  do the usual maintenance  before students move in.  Needless to say our facilities department  did a great job.  They were busy, but we got it done.”

Next to graduation day, Move In day is one of the most exciting days at the University  says Dr. Ryan.

He says  while everyone  is in a great mood today, there’s always ” a little bit of anxiety for parents  dropping their kids off,  especially the young ones who have never been away from home before,  but we have some people who are here to help out, and if people have any questions,  we can help out.  One of the big things is,  we have a lot of people here helping people move in,  so I think that really  reduces a lot of the stress.”

In addition to having plenty of help on scene and  a slate of  things  to do for students,  there is  a special session for parents “It’s an opportunity for them  to find out whatever they’re worried about” says Dr. Ryan  who  says parents have a number of questions “They have  concerns about the kids here, are they going to make friends, are they going to succeed,   where are they  going to eat,  are they going to eat,  how do they get downtown,  what’s the cost of transportation, so there’s a lot of things they worry about.  We have a number of  people from a  number of different areas of  Campus  who  have set up tables  so they can talk about that.”

Enrolment at UNBC is up  slightly this year over last,  but final numbers won’t  likely be known until  at least a month from now