(NECN: Greg Wayland, Boston) - The signs are up for that seasonal sidewalk ballet in Boston -- high hopes, Uhauls and new beginnings.
Being on your own and whatnot. Mom's not here to take care of you." That's how one Boston College student put it as he moved into an apartment on Commonwealth Avenue.
For some returning students -- and their parents-- it can be a tired old dance.
Along Bay State Road, we put the question to a dad helping his daughter unload her car and move into a dorm for her junior year. Had he been through this ritual before?
"Several times," he said.
But then there's Emerson College. they do things up in a lively fashion with a dancing army of costumed greeters at curbside in front of the freshman residence.
"It's Emerson College New Student Move-In," explained Assistant Dean of Students Sharon Duffy. "And there's nothing like it on the planet."
It's sort of a antic Pomp and Circumstance, Emerson-style. The school renowned for its theater arts has turned the mundane business of greeting incoming freshman into a Broadway opening.
Emerson student Melinda Warren stood at a podium with a list she was crossing off with some seven hundred names on it -- freshman who will be arriving over the next couple of days.
She explained: "This is the list of all the students who are moving in with their room numbers. We check them in. We unload their cars and then we put all their stuff in the carts, we bring them up to their room, unload and then they are free to get started with parent orientation and getting their ids and all the little formalities they have to take care of.
I asked Nick Dumont, newly arrived with his dad from Maine, what he thought about all this.
"Oh, it's pretty cool," he said. "I've never seen anything like this. "
This is incredible," said his dad, Russ Dumont. " The music, the excitement, the energy."
"Guys, this is Nick!" yelled one of the greeters to cheers. Dad was obviously moved
"Our oldest going off to college. it's emotional. it's emotional. it's also very exciting." Does it kind of soften the ache of separation?
"It does, it does, it's a great welcome."
There was another big Emerson greeting moments later for Sarah Erkert from Burlington, New Jersey.
"I was a little nervous," she said.,"But now I feel really welcomed."
Meanwhile, a mile away school days are over for Boston University social studies major and June graduate Megan Faralli . Her parents are moving her back home to Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
"Cause I'm just job-searching which isn't as much fun as -- "
Well, as moving in again, right Megan? Those four years just flew by.
But before she leaves town, Megan and her folks should drive by Emerson College. I'm sure they'd giver her a rousing hello...and goodbye.
