Throughout July and August, many incoming Â鶹¹û¶³ new students and their parents have the opportunity to attend a summer send-off party.
There are 15 celebrations planned in locations across the U.S., starting in Mobile, Alabama, and ending in Birmingham.
There also will be send-off parties in New Orleans, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Orlando and Tampa, Florida; Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; Atlanta, Georgia; the North Texas area; Houston, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Huntsville, Alabama.
"Students and parents in a close geographic area can meet and get to know each other. It's another way to build relationships and build community," said Susan Doyle, Â鶹¹û¶³’s director of parent programs.
The celebrations are casual get-togethers and meals where students and parents can ask last-minute questions before move-in day. Representatives from the university will be there to answer questions and oversee the events, Doyle said.
The 2016 theme for send-off parties and move-in day is a paraphrase of “E Pluribus Unum,” which is the phrase on the seal of the United States that means “out of many, one.”
“So, our theme is ‘out of many, Â鶹¹û¶³,’ celebrating the fact that students are coming from so many places to Â鶹¹û¶³ and become one at Â鶹¹û¶³,” Doyle explained.
Themed T-shirts will be sold at the celebrations to be worn on move-in day. The design is a map of the U.S. with the student’s home state highlighted in red.
Â鶹¹û¶³ students come from all around the world, Doyle added, and the send-off celebrations are another way for students to meet others in preparation for the start of the school year in August.
Erin Bognar is a journalism and mass communication major and a news and feature writer in the Division of Marketing and Communication.