For an incoming freshmen, saying good-bye to parents is no problem

Freshman Mariah Highbaugh is waiting for the moment when she can finally tell her parents to leave. For her, move-in is not some sappy, bittersweet ritual – it’s a new step that was a long time coming.

“I have been really excited for a really long time,” she said. “I’m not
nervous at all.”

Her father David Highbaugh shares similar sentiments. Somewhat out of character for a parent on move-in day, he said he was not concerned about the looming "good-bye."

“She’s really independent,” he said. “I didn’t raise
no chumps.”

***

The Highbaughs have been moving Mariah into her new dorm for more than an hour. The mound of plastic storage units, 24-packs of root beer and the mess of computer cables that sat teetering on the curb in front of Read Center is finally starting to recede.

“I might have brought too many shoes,” Mariah said. “This whole suitcase is shoes.”

Though coming to a close smoothly, the move-in was not without obstacles.

Mariah and David slid into campus rather easily, somehow avoiding the dreaded 10th Street traffic and directional confusion. Mariah’s mom Kim Highbaugh was not so lucky.

“Your mom is still lost,” David said. “She’s slow, dude.”

Conversation is chaotic. Thoughts are scattered.

“I forgot a toothbrush.”

“Kim, you needed to turn right.”

The elevator is too small for the group that has been waiting, after they were stranded on the wrong floor.

Mariah said she is eager to set up her room, meet her roommate and most of all, to get the week rolling.

“I want to meet people,” Mariah said. “I originally wanted to go to a college where I knew no one at all.”

David interjects after overhearing his enthusiastic daughter. “Where can a man get a can of pepper spray around here?”

Kim finally arrives.

“It was too hard to find,” she said. “I don’t like campus. It’s too busy.”

The goodbye is drawing nearer.

Despite her dad’s pushing, Mariah doesn’t think she’ll go to the Freshman
Induction Ceremony.

“I think that sounds like a bit too much,” she said.

Mariah’s older brother is now a senior at Purdue University. With a “been there, done that” philosophy, David said he is ready to let his daughter go.

“She needs to get out there and fly a little bit,” he said.

The room is settled, the car empty and true to their non-emotional pledges, Mariah’s parents are ready to leave – but not before they get some food.

“I smelled some garlic over on Atwater,” David said, “That’s where I’m looking to go.”