USF freshmen manage to move in despite power outage

No one was worried when the lights went out at Juniper-Poplar residence hall - until the heat in the lobby began to rise as lines of people waiting for an elevator grew.

Move-in day Wednesday at the University of South Florida was a hot one, without air conditioning and only one elevator working for about two hours. But it fit right in with the stress of the day for Susan Vaccaro, who was moving daughter Lisa into her dorm room.

Losing Lisa to college "hasn't hit me yet," Susan Vaccaro said. But she's sure it will as soon as she arrives home to Viera, near Melbourne. Lisa took so much out of the house the family needed two vehicles to get to Tampa.

Lisa was among about 3,500 students who checked into the 47 residence halls and campus apartment buildings on Wednesday. Most were freshmen. All freshmen at USF in Tampa are required to live on campus unless they have a parent or guardian in Hillsborough County.

For the first time, all students were required to go to a centralized location, the Sun Dome, to check in and pick up room keys. As a crowd gathered about 10:40 a.m., the gymnasium went dark.

Tampa Electric said three substations had lost power, cutting electricity to about 13,000 customers, including much of USF. The university considered evacuating the Sun Dome, but shifted to generator power and kept the move-in process moving until power was restored.

At the residence halls, helpers called Bull Haulers helped new students and their families unload vehicles full of clothes, boxes of bedding and kitchen supplies, refrigerators, microwave ovens and televisions.

"It's crazy and I'm sweaty," said Selina Ulangkaya, of Clearwater, standing with her daughter Celine, waiting for an elevator at Juniper-Poplar.

"This is too much to handle," she said. But it wasn't the heat. It was sending her first of four children to college.

"I just want her to be safe. She'll be coming home a lot."

Celine agreed.

"I like being close to home. Home's good."

And so is her double bed, she said, compared to her dorm room single.