Journal Entry / August 23, 2002

Lines and lines of cars filled Georgia Ave. as I sit patiently in the back seat of our rental car I notice a sign in the back window of the truck ahead of us, it reads “College or Bust.” I’m smiling so hard that my cheeks begin to hurt. My heart is beating so fast it seems as though it’s going to jump right out of my chest. My hands are sweating, my mouth is cold, the music coming from my headphones seems muffled and I’m feeling a bit woozy. Are these signs of being nervous? Nope, they’re signs of excitement, pure excitement. It was Move In Day.

As I finally make my way to the front of the line inside that tall brick building, the lady sitting in front of me, behind a big brown table hands me the keys to my brand new dwelling quarters. I make my way to the elevator, staring at the shiny silver keys and the paper in my hand, it reads … truth hall…fourth floor. When I step off the elevator everything begins to move in slow motion as I approach room 409. I pause, take a deep breath, and step inside.

As I looked around the empty room, I smile and begin to mentally put my room together. My roommate and I arranged our beds to make a little more space in our itty-bitty room, then head back downstairs to meet our dads at the car. There were people everywhere as far as I could see that had come to help us move in, from the different campus organizations to the maintenance crew, and there were guys, beautiful guys EVERYWHERE, and they were there for one reason and one reason alone… to help us move in. What a wonderful welcoming party!

We finally got our things and made it upstairs to our room. My dad offered the three guys helping us a little partying gift but they declined saying “that it was just apart of their job as a fraternity” and boy was I thankful… they were gorgeous. One of them told me I was really pretty and I got so nervous that I accidentally dropped a box on him and he rolled down the stairs. He thought it was funny, but I was mortified. He laughed it off and called me Ms. Klutz for the rest of the day.

We took pictures of everything, from leaving the hotel, to the beginning part of unpacking our rooms. Our RA came around and introduced herself and then reminded us that we were all to report to “the yard” in an hour for a ceremony. We were so tired from unpacking that we didn’t want to move, but my mom said “come on! Lets see what else they are going to do!” I looked at her and wondered “how in the world does she still have energy” I was exhausted, but my roommate and I followed her out of our room and on to the yard anyway.

When we got there, the HU Band was standing in the middle of the yard along with the flag girls and dancers. As we took our seats the band began to play. The President introduced himself along with the rest of his staff and then welcomed us, the new freshman class, as we joined a legacy know as the Howard University Family. It was our Pinning Ceremony.

We watched as one hundred upper classmen made their way through the crowd welcome us. They gave us a hug and stuck a shiny round pin on our shirts that read Howard University class of 2005. Then we all stood up and sang the Alma modal and danced with the rest of the band. As the ceremony came to an end I understood why my mom thought it was important for us to be there… it was a historical moment. One that I could only have once and I was glad I went, glad I was at a historically black college and honored that I had been given the pleasure to attend such a wonderful university.

As the long but rewarding day came to an end, I sat at the dinner table with both my mom and dad, reflecting on how wonderful the day was and anxious to see what was in store for us tomorrow.