Hundreds of upperclassmen in blue and pink shirts line the sidewalks of East Campus. They swarm each family’s car like ants, looting the mini fridges and printers and boxes of clothes as the helpless first-years look on.
The neon-colored ants haul the luggage into doors and up the stairwells and place it inside a first-year’s dorm. In between the runs, they dance to blaring music on speakers and scare the Class of 2022 with jumping waves and loud cheers. Then they do it again and again and again, until all 1,753 new students are moved in.
These upperclassmen, whose enthusiasm defies the stifling summer heat and the heft of carrying a refrigerator up multiple floors, are first-year advisory counselors.
They’re FACs.
Each year, the student program brings around 200 upperclassmen to campus early for training and Orientation Week sessions. They get three days of training before their main show—move-in day—then lead a series of “FAC Chats” throughout the week with an assigned group of first-years, discussing anything from sexual assault prevention to the first-years’ summer reading book.
The reasons students choose to join the program vary as much as their majors and hometowns.
Kevyn Smith, a sophomore intending to major in electrical and computer engineering, wanted to reciprocate the FACs’ help last year on move-in day.
Smith said that the FACs carrying his things up to his dorm was a “big burden off,” and the support his FAC offered throughout Orientation Week as he settled into living away from home for the first time helped smooth the transition.
“If I can help people feel that way, that would be great,” Smith said.
Move-in day lasted much longer than he thought it would. After unloading the first two cars at Gilbert-Addoms, he said he felt as tired as he expected to feel at the end of the day.
“Then I looked up and there was a huge line of cars,” Smith said, laughing and adding that he was still a little sore.
The training, Smith said, was helpful in pointing first-years toward resources on campus that they did not previously know about. When working with a diverse group of “FAC-lets”—the first-years in their mentorship group—the training was helpful in addressing diverse needs.
“It was helpful in learning how to be mindful and point people in the right direction,” Smith said.
Sophomore Jordan Diamond, an opinion columnist for The Chronicle who plans to study political science and human rights, chose to become a FAC to take advantage of the extra time with friends that being on campus for Orientation Week would give him.
But after joining the program, he said he’s gotten a lot more out of it than just an extra week with friends.
“It’s really a great opportunity to be a resource,” he said.
The Long Island resident did a pre-orientation program last year and missed the move-in day show, so he didn’t know what to expect when the time came this year, but said it was fun to move-in the new students who would be living in the Alspaugh room he stayed in last year and talking with the families.
Diamond’s day started off at Bell Tower, where the “adrenaline rush” of the day made it a breeze. But by the time his FAC group got to their second stop of Gilbert-Addoms, the exhaustion was starting to hit. The third shift took him to Alspaugh, and being back at his old dorm renewed his excitement for the day.
For sophomore Ben Rosen, a biomedical engineering major, the program was a chance to give back to Duke and learn more about the school in the training process. FACs were really helpful for him with moving in last year.
“I just wanted to reciprocate that and make the transition as smooth as possible,” he said.
Taylor Huie, also a sophomore, was attracted to the FAC program because it resembled a leadership program she participated in during high school.
“It’s really exciting to see the excitement freshman have, and it reminds me how much I love Duke,” Huie said.
Joseph Touma, a sophomore who plans to major in political science, said he appreciated the opportunity to welcome the new class to Duke. After days of training, move-in day was "gametime."
It impressed him that so many students love the school enough to be FACs.
“It is just really incredible that Duke is able to get 200 students to give up more than a week of their summer and volunteer for this,” he said.
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Bre is a senior political science major from South Carolina, and she is the current video editor, special projects editor and recruitment chair for The Chronicle. She is also an associate photography editor and an investigations editor. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief and local and national news department head.
Twitter: @brebradham
Email: breanna.bradham@duke.edu