Updated as of 3:04 p.m. Aug. 19 to include video from the Family Send-Off Picnic.
After living together just the two of them, mother Noelle and daughter Maggie Reetz said they are filled with excitement and nerves as they prepare to part ways after the annual Family Send-Off Picnic: Maggie to experience her first year at Elon and Noelle to return home to Atlanta.
“We're very attached and she's like my best friend,” Maggie said. “So it's really hard and sometimes I worry for both of us that we’re a little codependent.”
With her only child going off to college, Noelle has a lot of feelings about the change.
“We have mixed emotions but I feel like she's in a great space. She's gonna really be able to thrive here,” Noelle said. “I'm excited for both of us for what's to come, and I just can't wait to come up and visit and see what she's doing.”
Jessica Marishen, mother of incoming freshman Nate Marishen, also said it's a bittersweet moment to leave her child.
“I'm extremely sad but excited for my kid, and kind of have a lot of different emotions, but for the most part very excited for the next four years,” Jessica said. “Today has been a great day.”
Nate said he is looking forward to getting his independence after having left home.
“It's gonna be different, but I'm excited to see what the next four years have and getting out and getting some independence,” Nate said.
Incoming freshman McKenna Blunt said the amount of activities and orientation have taken her mind off of leaving her family this afternoon.
“I'm actually not feeling as sad as I thought I was gonna be. It was more sad the night before I was leaving,” Blunt said. “But now there's so much going on. … It kind of blocks out the sadness right now.”
Maggie and Noelle also both said the presentations Elon put on this weekend, such as the 2023-24 New Student Convocation and Move-In Day 2023, has helped ease the transition.
“I think the orientation — like the parent presentations — have made her feel a lot better about sending me away,” Maggie said. “But I think Elon has done a great job of making us both feel confident that it's going to be a great environment, a safe environment.”