“I’m still not ready to leave my high school behind,” freshman Phuong Nguyen, a Vietnamese student coming to Mercyhurst, said a few weeks before freshman move-in day. 

The absence of familiar faces adds to the surrealism of the first few days in college.  Freshman Trenice Scott said she didn’t feel like high school was being left behind until she began to hang out with her friends from high school for the last time.  

“I didn’t know what I was getting into,” Scott said, as she began to feel anxious at orientation.  All the same, she is looking forward to a new sense of independence, even if it means taking on more responsibilities than she had in high school.

Kerri Janoske of Chardon, Ohio, learned about Mercyhurst from her sister, who attends the college as a sophomore.  While she admitted she was nervous, she said she was more excited about moving in to Mercyhurst.  

“It seemed to be what I was looking for in a college.  Not too big, not too small, not too far, not too close,” Janoske said.  She said it will be strange not to see her friends from high school almost every day, but she added that she looks forward to meeting new friends in college.

Parents, also, seem to be taking the process well.