Freshman Move-In: Class of 2029 arrives ready to make their mark on Longwood

“I came here on a visit, then I went to a couple of other schools,” said James Robinson, who is majoring in business administration. “I knew this was the one I liked the best. I had the best experience here, as far as the people and the connections. I like that everyone knows my name.”

Robinson is among the eager and enthusiastic members of the Class of 2029 who arrived in Farmville last week, ready to step into the start of their college journey and leave their mark on Longwood. As incoming freshmen got settled into what will become their home away from home for the next four years, the air was filled with anticipation—and a touch of understandable nervousness—but not the typical humidity.

The skies were overcast and temperatures barely cracked the low 80s over the two-day process, which meant the new students and their move-in crews were spared the sweltering mid-August heat and humidity that traditionally makes the experience a perspiration-drenched affair. Still, unchanged was the usual mix of hugs, tears, photos and emotions as families said their goodbyes.

The unloading areas outside of Moss and Johns hall—the high-rise residence halls on the east side of campus—and Sharp and Register hall on the west side, where the majority of freshmen live, were humming as a cadre of Peer Mentors and Longwood staff helpers greeted new Lancers and their moving vessels overflowing with college life essentials. The large, wheeled laundry carts provided by Longwood were in popular demand. The line for the elevators in Moss and Johns stretched out the front doors periodically Wednesday and Thursday mornings. But overall the process ran smoothly.

From the volume of their jubilant screams and the three-way hug they shared in front of Johns, one would think Kaitlyn Quarders ’29, Kira Videgar ’29 and Harper Watkins ’29 were lifelong friends.

“We met on Instagram,” said Watkins, who is from Raleigh, North Carolina. “I saw that [Videgar] liked horses, and we’re majoring in the same thing, so I was just like, ‘We’re going to be roommates.’ Then I texted Kaitlyn, and that’s how we all became suitemates.”

Along with sharing a suite, the trio will share plenty of classrooms over the next several years. Both Watkins and Videgar are therapeutic recreation majors, while Quarders is majoring in kinesiology.

New friends, new experiences and a new home for the next four years await the talented, dynamic and academically gifted members of the freshman class. The incoming class is the largest since the Covid pandemic, with more than 1,000 new students arriving on campus, including transfers.

Members of several campus groups were among the friendly faces who showed up to help freshmen move in—including the cheerleading team, which arrived on campus in early August along with other fall semester student-athletes.

Jackson Morris ’29, from Powhatan, is a member of the track & field team. As a student-athlete, he has an entire team of peers to help welcome him to campus—including three fellow freshman sprinters also living in Johns—but he still managed to pack a well-worn comfort item.

“I brought one of my favorite blankets,” said Morris, who specializes in the 100-meter dash and was also an all-region football selection in high school. “It’s kiddie, but it’s sentimental. I call it my ‘blankie,’ but it’s really just a shirt. I’m like that little dude from Charlie Brown and Snoopy carrying it around with me all the time. I’ve had it probably since seventh grade.”

As for how he plans to decorate his first dorm room, he turned to a familiar source for inspiration.

“I’ve seen some basic ones, but on TikTok people are going crazy,” he said. “All the dudes were posting stuff, all these parents were helping set it all up, but I can’t hold a candle to that. I just copied and pasted from somebody I saw on TikTok and said that’s how it’s going to be. We’ll see how that turns out.”

By mid-morning on Thursday, roommates Madison Davis ’29 and Ashleigh Alpaugh ’29 had moved their things into their seventh floor suite in Moss Hall and were in the process of saying goodbye to their parents and move-in helpers. That meant it was time to get to the fun part—decorating their new space. Their décor theme is pink, blue, gold and white, but it would be several hours before their vision would be realized.

“Come back about six p.m. tonight. Once we have our picture frames and everything up it will look amazing,” said Alpaugh, a nursing major from Chesterfield who added she’s looking forward to learning to live on her own.

The pair met during Longwood’s open house in March and kept running into each other. They struck up a conversation in the Longwood Bookstore, where they were buying the same sweatshirt, and decided to be roommates.

While Alpaugh and Davis, an elementary education and teaching major from Warrenton, met just this year, lifelong friends and fellow Eagle Scouts Kaeson Baldridge ’29 and Zechariah Woosley ’29, both from Chesterfield, have planned to be college roommates for years.

“We’ve known each other since we were around seven,” Woosley said. “We met through scouts. We actually didn’t go to the same middle school or high school; we just hit it off in scouts, and we’ve been friends ever since. The goal has always been to be college dormmates.”

While Baldridge has strong ties to Longwood—his older brother, Zach, is a 1995 alum and his father, Mark, is a former art professor—the decision to come to Farmville was driven by Woosley.

“I picked Longwood, and Kaeson said, ‘Yep, maybe I’ll go with you,’” Woosley recalled.

Now Baldridge, who was once considering a career as a mechanic before Woosley’s decision to attend Longwood swayed him to go to college, is majoring in physics and wants to pursue a career in mechanical engineering. Woosley, meanwhile, is majoring in health and physical education.

Another health and physical education major, Angie Ramirez ’29, already had her room in Moss Hall set up and was heading out to explore Farmville on Thursday. Ramirez graduated from high school in Charlottesville, but is originally from El Salvador. She is the first in her family to attend college.

“I feel like it’s a dream and it’s becoming a reality after studying hard in a new country and learning a new language,” she said.

One special thing she brought with her is a U.S. Coast Guard challenge coin her boyfriend gave her just before he left for U.S. Army boot camp. She is going to Oklahoma this week to attend his graduation.

As for James Robinson, the business administration major from Gum Spring, he’s eager to start classes this week—with his sights already set on the future: one day taking over his father’s construction business.

“I’m ready to put my foot in the door and get started with that path because I’ve wanted to do this since I was small,” he said. “I’ve got the plan, now I’m going to do it.”