While most parents of incoming freshmen fret over whether or not their son or daughter will find happiness at their choice of college, Laurene Huffman ’91 felt confident that her daughter, Elizabeth “Belle” Huffman ’18 (Waterford, Ohio) would fit right into life at Marietta.
And rather than having the “first-day jitters,” Belle was all smiles during Thursday’s Freshman Move-In Day.
“Marietta is a tradition in my family,” she says. “My mom and my dad (Doug Huffman ’92) graduated from here. I have cousins who go here and who’ve graduated from here.”
Belle and 17 other new, incoming students are known as Legacy Students, which denotes that they are at least second-generation Marietta College students.
In addition to her parents and cousins, Belle also had an uncle who graduated from Marietta. She’s heard plenty of stories and just a little advice from her family members about their time as students.
“My parents have always taught me to do my best and they’ve said that if try really hard at something, things will work out in the end,” Belle says.
The Huffman parents both started out their college careers at larger universities, further away from their Washington County, Ohio, hometowns.
“We liked the fact that you could be so involved in many different things at Marietta because the campus was small and you could feel comfortable here,” Laurene says. “You can’t disappear in a crowd here, so there is an opportunity to really stand out.”
Also moving into her new room Thursday was Brooke Borich ’18 (Beverly, Ohio), whose mother, Cathy Clark Borich ’90, was also once an incoming freshman at Marietta.
“I’m excited to be here,” Brooke says. “I was actually planning to go to a different school but I changed my mind about a month before I had to move in. At first, my mom was kind of surprised that I wanted to switch but she’s happy about it.”
Taking a short break between carrying a mini-fridge and some of his daughter’s other belongings, Mark Borich reflected on Brooke’s decision to choose Marietta.
“It’s good. She’s close to home, which is what she wanted. Her mother, (Cathy’s) brother and two cousins went here, so (Brooke) is No. 5 in the family,” he says.
The Borich women will share another common Marietta thread: Pioneer basketball.
Both Brooke and Belle are Health Sciences majors, and both also spent time on campus during the summer. Belle took a Chemistry course from Dr. Suzanne George Parsons.
“Having talked to my parents about the class sizes, I know I can expect a quality education here because you have so much one-on-one time with your professors,” Belle says. “I really enjoyed my class this summer and Dr. Parsons made me feel like I could get help from her whenever I needed it.”
Brooke helped her teammates and coaches during the three-day, girls’ residential basketball camp.
“It’s good to be able to officially move in,” Brooke says. “I’m ready to get started.”
GI SMITH
