SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Wofford College’s newest students were on move-in day Tuesday, Aug. 25, by an eager group of upperclassmen – members of the Orientation Staff, athletics teams and others – along with faculty, staff and even the president, who swarmed their cars, vans and U-Hauls to help them unload their lives onto the campus where they’ll spend the next four years.

The Class of 2019 began moving into their residence halls at 8:30 a.m. with a lot of assistance and encouragement from the campus community. The day will be full of hustle and bustle, meeting new friends – maybe even a roommate they’ve never met before – and getting a lay of the land at Wofford.

Returning upperclassmen move in on Saturday, Aug. 29, and classes for all Wofford students begin on Monday, Aug. 31.

Opening session for the first-year students and their parents will be at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday on the front lawn of Main Building, where they will be greeted by President Nayef H. Samhat and others in the administration. The students also will meet with their academic advisers, enjoy a picnic dinner with their fellow newcomers and families, and dessert with the president and his wife before saying goodbye to their parents.

On Wednesday, the students will meet with their Student Success Teams – made up of a faculty adviser, a staff guide and a student orientation leader – designed to help the new students adjust to a new academic setting, new policies and procedures, living arrangements, instructors and the increased level of independence they will have living away from home. This is the first year of the SST concept at Wofford.

On Thursday, first-year students will travel to Camp Greystone in Tuxedo, N.C., for the annual Summit adventure orientation, where there will be swimming, canoeing and other activities. Other orientation activities will continue throughout the week on campus.

The Class of 2019 photograph will be made at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, and the students will participate in the annual Stop Hunger Now service project beginning at 1:30 p.m. in Benjamin Johnson Arena. The students will package 22,000-plus nutritionally supplemented meals to go to high-need locations around the world, likely to the continent of Africa. This is the fifth year the incoming class has participated in this project.

Here are some important dates for the opening of the fall 2015 semester:

Tuesday, Aug. 25
8:30-11 a.m. – First-year and transfer resident students move in (check-in is at The Commons in the Campus Life Building; move-in is along Campus Drive at the Greene and Marsh Residence Halls)

3:30 p.m. – Opening session, front lawn of Main Building

Wednesday, Aug. 26
First-year student orientation continues

Thursday, Aug. 27
11 a.m. – First-year students board buses for The Summit at Camp Greystone in Tuxedo, N.C. (buses load on Campus Drive in front of Marsh and Greene Halls)

Friday, Aug. 28
First-year student orientation continues

2:30 p.m. – Field Day Competition for first-year students, front lawn of Main Building

7 p.m. – Men’s soccer game vs. Gardner-Webb, Snyder Field

Saturday, Aug. 29
Returning students move in

Sunday, Aug. 30
10:30 a.m. – Class of 2019 photograph, steps of Main Building, followed by the First Service of Worship, Leonard Auditorium, Main Building

1:30-4 p.m. – Class of 2019 Service Project, Benjamin Johnson Arena.

Monday, Aug. 31
8:30 a.m. – Classes begin

Thursday, Sept. 3
11 a.m. – Opening Convocation, Leonard Auditorium, Main Building. Award-winning author and 1997 Wofford graduate James Scott will be the featured speaker. The former reporter and investigative journalist with the Charleston, S.C., Post and Courier is a recipient of the McClatchy Co. President’s Award and was named the 2003 Journalist of the Year by the South Carolina Press Association. Wofford College honored Scott as its 2005 Young Alumnus of the Year. From 2006-2007, he was a Nieman Fellow for Journalism at Harvard University. In addition to “Target Tokyo,” Scott is the author of “The Attack on Liberty,” which won the prestigious 2010 Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Excellence in Naval Literature, and “The War Below,” both with Simon & Schuster. His is at work on a fourth book on the February 1945 Battle for Manila. The event is free and open to the public.

Tuesday, Sept. 9
11 a.m. – The Novel Experience Convocation, Leonard Auditorium, Main Building. Roxana Robinson, author of “Sparta,” this year’s Novel Experience choice, will address the students in the Class of 2019. “Sparta” centers on Conrad Farrell, a Marine returning home to Katonah, N.Y., after a four-year tour in Iraq. As he attempts to find his footing in the civilian world, he learns how hard it is to return to the people and places he used to love. Gradually, he awakens to a growing rage and the realization that something has gone wrong. The event is free and open to the public.