Home away from home

Videography by Vibhu Rangavasan

Students settled into their rooms for the first time Aug. 17, on a sunny and fun-filled Freshman Move-In Day.

Freshman residents were welcomed to campus and into the UIC family by Chancellor Michael Amiridis, men’s basketball head coach Steve McClain, women’s basketball head coach Regina Miller, student athletes and move-in crews.

“I wanted to get the full experience at UIC,” shared Vianey Toscano — who is from Skokie — on why she chose to live on campus. “It’ll open me up to new experiences, meeting new people and new opportunities.”

Alexandra Kaufman, a student majoring in bioengineering, met Chancellor Amiridis during her first few minutes on campus — he helped her move in.

“It was very warm,” she said. “It was really inviting and it made me feel like a singular person in a school of like 20,000.”

Suitemates Patrick “Joe” Dresden and Shelvin Newsome met for the first time on Wednesday. They hope that staying on campus will help with their academic goals.

“There’s a lot of distractions back home,” said Newsome, who will major in accounting. “I’m just really hoping to stay focused, keep on task.”

Students living on each of the campus’ nine resident halls — on the east, south and west sides — are also just minutes from the city, an added bonus to life at UIC.

“It’s one of the reasons I picked the school,” Kaufman said. “I’m very excited.”