Thousands of students embrace new Sun Devil home during fall 2024 move-in

It’s not an easy thing to turn the potential for chaos — like 12,000 students moving into dorm rooms on Arizona State University's Tempe campus Saturday and Sunday — into calm.

But thanks to strategic planning and an army of volunteers, calm was the best way to describe the scene Saturday morning as the students started their journey into the 2024–25 school year.

Gary Landsberg and his wife, Maria, got out of their white Chevy van in front of Tooker House, the residential complex for students in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Before they could blink, all the belongings of their daughter, Julia, a first-year student from Pennsylvania, were placed in boxes and taken up to Julia’s seventh-floor room.

“It’s like a pit stop,” Gary said. “I want this everywhere I go.”

Maria documented the drop-off, taking pictures at every step along the way.

“I have mixed emotions,” Maria said. “Very excited for her but sad for me.”

Julia said she was still processing the cross-country move and the start of her journey at ASU.

“It’s exciting but a little scary at the same time,” she said.

At Manzanita Hall, home to students in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Layla Wilbon-Lewis, a first-year psychology student who graduated from Maricopa Institute of Technology high school in Phoenix, was unpacking her belongings alongside her father, Gary Wilbon, and mother, Trina Lewis.

Layla’s move to Tempe was less than a 25-minute drive, but that didn’t extinguish the emotions Gary felt.

“It’s still a sad day. My baby isn’t going to be at home,” he said. “But other than that, it’s a happy moment because she’s happy.”

Layla said the move-in was “bittersweet,” but that she was excited to meet new people and begin her studies.

She also promised she would continue one freshman tradition. When asked if she planned on bringing her laundry home occasionally, she smiled and said, “Definitely.”

On Friday, the first of a three-day move-in for ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus, activity at Gordon Commons was also the picture of calm thanks to the help of approximately 150 ASU staff and volunteers.

The serenity was helpful as students and their parents shared their final moments before the start of the new academic year.

“It’s a bittersweet moment, but I’m very proud of her,” Ivone Folley said of her daughter, Desiree Price, a first-year nursing student. “It’s a new chapter for Desiree, and I know she’ll do a great job.”

Price is one of approximately 1,800 students who will live in on-campus housing on the Downtown Phoenix campus. She selected ASU for several reasons.

“I picked ASU because they have a very respected nursing program and I like the positive vibes here,” said Price, who is from Riverside, California. “It’s also not too far from home, which will allow me to visit from time to time.”

Home is a little farther away for Charlie Cohen, who flew in from Philadelphia earlier this week. He is sold on ASU and life in the desert.

“I visited here in January, but I was sold on the university even before I got here,” said Cohen, a first-year journalism student whose move-in items included a large stack of professional sports jerseys. “I wasn’t even thinking about ASU in the beginning, but when I did my research, I thought, ‘This place is incredible!'"

Cohen was accompanied by his parents, Alex and Sara, who said their son will thrive at ASU.

“Charlie was born ready to leave the nest, which is great as a parent,” Sara said. “This is exactly where he’s supposed to be.”

Although it was 95 degrees on Saturday morning when Brenna Youngbauer and her family unpacked her belongings from their car and moved her into Lantana Hall on the Polytechnic campus, that was fine with the sports psychology major, who is from Pine City, Minnesota.

“I needed to get out of Minnesota,” she said.

Her mother, Sarah Youngbauer, agreed: “She’s sick of the winters.”

Brenna, who will be part of Barrett, The Honors College, was among more than 980 Sun Devils who moved into the residence halls at the east Mesa campus this weekend for the fall semester.

Even as she was happy to move 1,700 miles from home, she hugged her favorite stuffed leopard to her chest as she walked down the hall to meet her new roommate.

Tyra Nguyen, of Monterey, California, is another first-year student who’s happy to be in the desert.

“I like the hot weather, and Monterey is kind of cold. The heat makes me happy,” she said.

She chose ASU — and the Polytechnic campus — because of her major, automotive engineering. She’d like to design cars for a career.

“I love cars. I want a Ferrari,” she said.

“I want to design cars, and I also really want to work in the motorsports industry. I’m a big F1 fan.”

The heat is nothing new for Daniel Nevarez, an automotive engineering major who went to McClintock High School in Tempe and was moving into Century Hall. He chose ASU for the location.

“It’s close to home, and I have to be close to my family,” he said.

Still, it was an emotional day for his mother, Maria Briseno.

“It didn’t hit me until we saw the sign for the Polytechnic campus,” she said.

“It’s nerve-wracking.”

Also familiar to Daniel was his roommate, Aaron Galicia, who has been his best friend since middle school.

“We grew up playing football together and doing everything together,” Galicia said.

“I hope I don’t get tired of him.”

On Sunday, after driving for 24 hours with her parents from Guadalajara, Mexico, Natalie Lopez-Mulgado moved into Casa del Valle, the newest residential community on ASU’s West Valley campus.  

The dorm features 507 double-occupancy, suite-styled units.  

Lopez-Mulgado, a first-year student, is attending the Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is the first in her family to go to college.  

“I’m excited because I’m going to meet new people and learn a new culture,” Lopez-Mulgado said.

It’s the first time Lopez-Mulgado will be away from home. She placed her large, well-loved teddy bear on her dorm bed and continued to unpack with the help of her parents, Angelica and Reuben.

Reuben said he was “triste pero contento.” 

Lopez-Mulgado translated: “He is sad because he is not going to see me for a while, but happy to know that I am going to study in a new university.” 

Lopez-Mulgado was sad too, knowing she was not going to see her family and friends for a long time. 

“But I made the decision because it’s a very important step in my life,” she said. 

Video by EJ Hernandez/ASU News

Olivia Greuel and her mom, Tiffanie Greuel, drove 28 hours from Wisconsin to Casa del Valle. The first-year student chose ASU because of its national ranking for accounting. 

“I also wanted to come somewhere that was warm and had no snow,” said Greuel, who is very excited to be at ASU, but also nervous because she doesn’t know anybody yet.  

“But I make friends easily,” she said. “I talk a lot.”  

Greuel’s boxes covered her bed and were stacked on the floor of her dorm room. She pulled out a large purple stuffed animal shaped like a stingray and a handcrafted bowl from her grandfather. 

Greuel’s grandparents died in a car accident this summer. Her grandfather had carved a piece of redwood she had given him into a beautiful bowl for her birthday. 

“It has a lot of meaning for me,” said Greuel. “It makes me feel loved.” 

Another first-year student, Yaritza Maldonado, from the west Phoenix community of Maryvale, was also moving into the new dorm. She was accompanied by both parents, two sisters and her godmother.  

“We didn’t want her to be alone,” said her sister, Yahalva Maldonado.  

Maldonado, who was a part of ASU’s TRIO program, will be studying nursing. The West Valley campus offers an accelerated Bachelor of Science in nursing through the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation.  

Ayden Vasquez, 21, drove to ASU’s West Valley campus from Riverside, California, with his mother, Aja Garcia and 3-year-old brother, Miles Manalu.

“I’ve always been a big fan of ASU,” Vasquez said. “My mom graduated in 2013.”  

Vasquez, a transfer student, plans to study sports journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. 

Vasquez is excited about all of the opportunities at ASU, including the chance to write for the State Press, ASU’s student paper. 

When asked how she felt about dropping her son off, Garcia said, “Oh, it’s heavy. It’s definitely heavy. But I am excited for him to start his journey. I want him to fly and experience the world.” 

ASU News reporters Scott Bordow, Marshall Terrill, Mary Beth Faller and Dolores Tropiano contributed to this story.