SIUE students excited to be back on campus to begin classes

(Photos by Brian Munoz)

EDWARDSVILLE - Students were welcomed back to the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus as the fall semester kicked off Monday.

New SIUE chancellor, Randy Pembrook, joined administration in handing out pink lemonade outside of the Morris University Center as part of the back to school celebrations.

The SIUE students surveyed appeared excited to be back on campus resuming classes after a summer break.

Senior Elementary Education major Ashley Garrett, 23, of Galesburg said: “I was glad that [administration] has been passing out lemonade outside of the Morris University Center with the water issue going on. Also having the “Help Here” signs was really good for the younger students and all of the free stuff. The thing I’m looking forward to the most this year is graduating and finding a job to teach first or second grade."

Senior Exercise Science major Nicole Hodapp, 23, of Maryville, said: “The first day has been pretty good so far, the quad is a little messy but it looks like they’re working on that. I’m looking forward to graduating in December."

Sophomore flute performance major Taylor Poenicke, 19, of St. Peters, Mo., said the first day was stressful, but overall better than their freshman year because of having habits to start down.

“It definitely feels weird being the first day all over again," Poenicke said. "I’m looking forward to learning new things, especially on flute, learning new repertoire, and making new friends; music stuff."

Sophomore Caleb Hill, 19, of St. Louis, Mo., said he was prepared to begin classes again.

“The first day has been going well, I had my first class at noon today, Spanish 201," he said. "I’m pretty excited for that class and just being able to take a broad range of classes which will maybe lead me to find my major.”

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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