Susquehanna High School graduate Micaela Rhone, of Starrucca, Pa., had the help of her sisters, McKenzie and Miranda Rhone, and her parents, April and Dean Rhone, during First-Year Student Move-In Day on Aug. 21 at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa.

Pictured during First-Year Student Move-In Day at Misericordia University was a family affair for the Rhone family of Starrucca, Pa., as they helped Micaela Rhone move into Alumni Hall. Shown from left to right, McKenzie, April, Micaela, Dean and Miranda Rhone.

The family had additional help from a team of 79 orientation leaders and other volunteers as Rhone moved her belongings into Alumni Hall on the Misericordia campus. Rhone said she chose Misericordia’s Occupational Therapy Program after doing a sleep-over on campus. "I liked the campus and the friendly atmosphere. The people here all were very nice." 

Rhone is one of 446 first-year students who were welcomed to Misericordia as part of the second largest first-year class in the 90-year history of the institution of higher education. The University also welcomed 103 transfer students. With the new class of students, the University will have a record 3,141 undergraduate and graduate students in full- and part-time academic programs for the fall semester.

The first-year class hails from 12 states including Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The class includes two international students, who both come from Saudi Arabia.

The university has 1,020 students living in residence halls and townhomes on the upper and lower campuses.

A contingent of staff, faculty, students, and alumni were on hand to assist with the move-in process. The event-filled day included the annual Convocation ceremony that welcomes first-year students and their families and acts as the official beginning of the academic year.

The Convocation program included a welcome by Thomas J. Botzman, Ph.D., Misericordia University president, and an address by Sister Anne E. McLaughlin, RSM, D.Min., vice chair of the Conference for Mercy Higher Education Board. Dr. McLaughlin is a 1963 Misericordia graduate and held various positions in the university’s Department of Religious Studies spanning a period of 32 years.

For more information about Misericordia University, please call (570) 674-6400 or log on to www.misericordia.edu. Founded and Sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy in 1924, Misericordia University is Luzerne County’s first four-year college and offers 34 degree programs on the graduate and undergraduate levels in full- and part-time formats. Misericordia University ranks in the top tier of the Best Regional Universities – North category of U.S. News and World Report’s 2014 edition of Best Colleges and was designated a 2015 Best Northeastern College by the Princeton Review.