ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The annual freshman move-in day at Eckerd College is a daunting task for all incoming students and their families.
But the Tritons athletics department helped make it a little easier on Friday, volunteering to help the families get settled into their new homes. Eckerd student-athletes, coaches and staff members helped move in belongings while answering questions about life on campus.
“It is really important to help the new students and their families move in,” said Eckerd head women's basketball coach Paul Honsinger. “When the general student body can see that athletics is giving them a helping hand right from the start, it really helps with our outreach as an athletic department and as a college.”
Eckerd is expecting more than 500 freshmen to move in this weekend, including more than 80 first-year student-athletes.
“At Eckerd we talk a lot about the value of community,” said Dr. Bob Fortosis, Eckerd's Director of Athletics. “Eckerd is a unique place in that the athletic department here is not a separate entity from the overall community. We look at our student-athletes as servant leaders, which is at the very core and heart of what Eckerd is.”
