Dana Puziss used to have three posters and lights hanging on her side of her dorm room in Carman Hall.

Her shelves used to be filled with framed pictures.

Now all she has are post-it notes, a printer, and one tiny picture frame. The right side of the wall is lined with two stacks of boxes, filled with clothes, shoes, room decorations and desk supplies.

“My Dad is coming Thursday,” said Puziss, a freshman psychology major.

She wanted to pack now so she did not have to do it later and could concentrate on her finals, she said. Right now she has 12 boxes, a large black bag, and a stack of papers and folders.

The moving-in process is different than moving out, said Mark Hudson, director of housing and dining.

Students need more assistance when moving in because it is all done in one day, he said. Moving out is more of a trickling process, done throughout finals week.

Puziss’ roommate, Katie Zwolinski, also a freshman, still has posters and pictures up on her side of the room.

Zwolinski’s parents are coming on Saturday to take some of her items back home.

“They’re taking things I brought that I don’t need,” she said.

She’s only keeping some necessities, like clothes and notebook paper, she said.

When students move out, it is an interesting time of year, Hudson said. Students are focused on finishing their academics but are easily distracted because of the nice weather, he said.

He said RAs should have on-going contact with their residents, not only to make sure there are no problems going on, but also to keep the interaction going with residents on their floor.

Hudson was an RA in Stevenson in the late ’70s.

He could not think of any crazy situations that RAs have had to recently deal with, but in 1978, he dealt with an interesting situation.

There was a program at that time where students could paint their rooms.

Students had to choose from a selection of pre-approved colors, but some colors were very dark, he said.

One year, one of Hudson’s residents painted their walls and ceiling a very dark

blue. Some of his residents in Stevenson stuck glow-in-the-dark stars to their ceiling forming constellations.

“We would turn out the lights, and I swear, it was like looking up at the heavens,” he said.

For him, the end of the year was sad to think about.

He would reflect on the year, thinking about how the same group of people will never all be together again.

“It’s sad because it’s all over already,” Zwolinski said.

She’ll be living in Taylor Hall next year and will not bring as many things next semester.

“I have shoes that I never even touched,” she said.

Puziss will also leave things at home, even though she’ll be in an apartment next semester.

“I’m not bringing half as much stuff next year,” she said.

Students are not the only people on campus preparing to move out. Building service workers have extra work to do, as well.

Each room has to be stripped of anything on the walls. All the furniture is moved out, and everything is wiped down and disinfected, said Shawn Ames, a BSW in Taylor Hall.

“We have to make sure there’s nothing gooey left in the room,” she said. “It’s basically what we do now, just more extensively.”

Each room takes about 15 minutes to clean when two people work together, she said, but cleaning the University Apartments takes longer.

“The apartments are the worst,” she said. “They’re usually really, really bad because of the stoves and refrigerators.”

Residents don ot always take care when disposing of their belongings, she said.

Ames worked in Carman Hall last year, where a person just threw their television down the stairs.

“They kind of didn’t care,” she said.

Students with usable furniture can donate it to Haiti Connection, a student group that raises awareness for Haiti.

Students can also donate fans and mini fridges. The items will be sold in the fall and that money will go toward Haiti projects, said Roy Lanham, campus minister at the Newman Catholic Center, and adviser of Haiti Connection.

“We give (students) a place to dump the stuff they can’t take home, don’t know how to use, or don’t want anymore,” said Kyla Nance, a senior art major, speaking on behalf of Haiti Connection.

The money raised goes to Haiti, and the projects they support.

“We give them the money so they can provide themselves with clean drinking water, education, health care, clothing, shoes – necessities that we take for granted,” Nance said.

“We’re just kind of holding their hands, and inversely, they’re holding ours,” she said. “You get something from both sides.”

Dana Puziss, freshman psychology major, sits at her desk in Carman hall on Thursday afternoon with all of her walls empty and belonging packed up in boxes. (Jay Grabiec/The Daily Eastern News)

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