By Bob Holmes
As boxes, suitcases and even live plants were carried from the vehicles lined up outside CIU residence halls, one piece of furniture was hard to miss. A beautiful, new, bright blue love seat was carried into the Walker women’s dorm by two of several upperclassmen and professors who lined the curb volunteering to help freshmen and transfer students move into their new home away from home.
The loveseat belongs to freshman Scarlette Hickson from Alcolu, South Carolina who realizes it’s not your typical piece of dorm room furniture.
“I like to be comfortable, and I don’t like sitting at desks,” said Hickson who might as well make herself at home. She plans to be around CIU for six years, first as a Psychology major, and then in the graduate-level Clinical Counseling program.
“The campus is lovely, and the people here are so inviting,” said Hickson regarding her choice of colleges.
Scarlette’s mom Jill Hickson says her daughter is a planner.
“She has been ready for this for a long time, and her being ready makes it easy for us to be ready,” said Mrs. Hickson.
Many Hands Make Light Work
Helping to carry that loveseat in the South Carolina heat and humidity was New Testament Professor Dr. Michael Naylor who says because he teaches Bible classes, there’s a good chance the students he is helping to move in will be one of his students.
“It’s fun to make those connections right from the start,” said Naylor, wiping away a bit of sweat.
Record-Breaking Enrollment
CIU is welcoming its largest incoming class for the 2026-2027 school year with a projection of nearly 300 freshman and transfer students, surpassing 285 new students last fall. Overall enrollment is projected at 3,270 undergraduate and graduate students studying on campus and/or online, which would also be a record for total enrollment.
Among the transfer students is sophomore Brock Lincoln Burgess from Augusta, Georgia who enrolled at CIU to study Youth Ministry upon the recommendation of a friend.
“(I) did a lot of praying, (and) a lot of research about the school as well … and then I visited the campus, and I was like ‘yeah, this is where I’m coming to school.’”
Brock’s father Alfred Burgess is happy with his son’s choice after his freshman year at a larger university.
“It feels like this is the place for him,” said Mr. Brock. “The size of the campus is great. He has friends here. And we don’t live too far away.”
Five Generations from CIU’s First President
The move-in for freshman Katelyn Bowers is a bit historic.
In 1918, Katelyn’s great-great grandparents, Robert and Marguerite McQuilkin, were less than a day away from sailing to Africa and a career in missions when their ship sank in the harbor. This set in motion a series of events which eventually led to McQuilkin becoming the first president of CIU in 1923. Katelyn is the fifth generation in a direct line of the McQuilkin’s involvement with CIU.
Her father, Jamie Bowers (Class of ’99) and her mother Lolly (Gardner) Bowers (Class of 2001), along with younger siblings, helped her move in.
“I sort of laughed when they gave me directions,” Jamie quipped regarding the move-in process, adding, “I think it’s cool that God has led Katelyn here.”
Standing in Katelyn’s air-conditioned room in Petty Hall, Jamie recalled how as a part of the alumni association, Katelyn’s great-grandmother Virginia McQuilkin Bowers pushed for air conditioning in the dorms in the early 1990s. There was resistance from older alumni who thought the students should be preparing for hard times on the mission field.
“And my grandmother who was never one for diplomacy stood up and said, ‘You all have air conditioning in your house, just put it in (the dorms).’”
As for Katelyn, she is just “excited” to be at CIU where she will study English because she “loves reading and writing.”
Read more about Katelyn’s link to CIU’s heritage in the Fall 2026 edition of CIU Today magazine, scheduled for publication in October.
Above: CIU athletes volunteer with the move-in. (Photo by Jonathan McGaha.)
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