Welcome Home Brings New Energy to a Growing FHU Campus

Students returned to Freed-Hardeman University in August to a growing number of students who are now calling campus home.

As residence halls filled, returning students reconnected with friends and new students began settling into their surroundings, Welcome Home brought the energy of a new academic year back to campus. For students arriving with family members, belongings and plans for the months ahead, the day offered a first glimpse of what the year could hold.

Audrey Satterfield had already been on campus for two weeks when most students began arriving. The sophomore special education major from Fayetteville, Tennessee, returned early as a member of the FHU volleyball team and noticed the difference as campus began filling up around her.

“The new students bring a lot of life to campus,” Satterfield said.

She also appreciated seeing a team ready to help students as they arrived and began moving into their residence halls.

“A team ready to help everybody — that’s a good thing,” she said.

Student volunteers welcome students to their new dorms.

Satterfield, who lives in Dixon Hall, entered the new year looking forward to getting more involved on campus and meeting new people.

That welcoming spirit could also be seen at Scott Hall, where 12 resident assistants in pink shirts greeted incoming students and helped them settle into a residence hall that would become home to 136 women.

For Bailey Forthune, simply getting back to FHU had already been an adventure.

The Greenville, South Carolina, native’s vehicle broke down in Calhoun, Georgia, on the way to campus in mid-August. By the time the second-semester freshman made it to FHU, however, a friend was waiting with a welcome that made the journey worthwhile.

“I’m so glad you’re back!” her friend told her.

Forthune’s mother and older sister, a 2024 FHU graduate, joined her for the move. This year, Forthune has a single room and plans to make it her own, including turning one of the beds into a sofa.

She also returned with goals that extend beyond decorating her new space. Forthune plans to focus on her studies and boost her GPA and was particularly looking forward to Introduction to Education.

Many families were on hand to help new students settle in to their dorm rooms.

While students and their families settled into residence halls, plenty of helping hands were nearby. Welcome Home began with drive-through check-in and continued with Operation Helping Hands, mobilizing members of the FHU community to help incoming freshmen and transfer students move into their new homes.

Junior Taleigha Woodley was among those lending a hand. It was her second year helping new students move into their residence halls, but her role in welcoming FHU’s newest students would continue after move-in day.

“I’m excited to meet them,” Woodley said.

As an Interface representative, Woodley would help carry that welcome into Interface, FHU’s longstanding new-student tradition designed to help freshmen build relationships, become comfortable with college life and begin finding their place in the FHU community.

With residence halls filling and students reconnecting, meeting new friends and settling into the semester, Welcome Home and Interface helped set the tone for another year at FHU — one that began with a simple message for students both new and returning: Welcome home.

Interface groups gather to play games in the commons at the end of a busy Welcome Home day.