Older Students Welcome University of Hartford Freshmen

Older students went the extra mile to make sure the freshmen felt welcome as they move into the dorms at the University of Hartford this weekend.

“You pull over, open your trunk, and they meet you at your car and they take all of your stuff and just move it in for you,” said Max Petras from Swampscott, Massachusetts.

The goal was to make the transition go smoothly and give the freshman and their parents one less thing to worry about.

“I didn’t expect it at all. I have two other brothers going to college and I’ve never seen that before,” said Thomas DiMauro of Middletown.

Mary Daigle, a senior at the school, has volunteered since her sophomore year. She was one of the 230 students who rolled up her sleeves to help the freshman class on move-in day.

“It’s kind of good to help everybody move in and freshman year they helped me so I might as well give back and help them,” said Daigle.

Called Howie’s Helpers, after the school’s mascot, they offered door to door service, doing all the heavy lifting for the freshman.

“I was ready to be lugging everything up to the rooms and when the squad of red caps came down and carried everything up and felt like, wow, this is awesome. I felt like tipping them,” said Thomas’s mom Anita.

“This is awesome. They have it down to a science. This is unbelievable,” said Remm Rajeh, whose son is starting his freshman year at the school.

The class of 2019 is the school’s largest freshman class since 2009.

Classes at the University of Hartford will start Tuesday, Sept. 1.

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