It’s not often that you see organized chaos.

NIU’s campus exploded Thursday, as nearly 6,000 students migrated into DeKalb for the upcoming school year. Move-In Day temporarily converted streets on the west side of campus to one-way roads as students armed with everything from stereos to posters battled their way into the residence halls.

As with previous years, NIU took many steps to handle the overload. Most noticeable were the more than 1,000 volunteers brought in to welcome the students and assist with move-in procedures.

Making the students feel welcome is important to the university, officials say.

“It is an opportunity for the entire university community to make students feel truly welcome from the very start and get them off on the right foot,” said Phyllis Dupre, area coordinator of Lincoln Hall.

The volunteers, many of whom were NI Guides, were very visible, sporting red T-shirts and attempting to make the move-in experience smoother.

One volunteer, junior economics major Mike Hardaway, attempted to make new students’ first day better than his own by helping students get everything together.

“I just remember looking around and not knowing what I was doing,” said Hardaway.

NIU also helped students move with a fleet of 120 golf carts hauling students’ belongings from parking lots to their respective residence halls.

Vanessa Gonzalez, a freshman business administration major, really liked the idea of carts.

“Everything is cool. I like the idea of guides helping me so I don’t have to take 30 or 40 trips,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez’s enthusiasm was shared by other incoming students excited to be at NIU. Conor Dalton, a freshman biology major, said he has been anticipating moving in since the beginning of the summer.

However, others found this year to be a little more hectic than in the past.

Sophomore accounting major Carrie Gorman said this year appeared to be a little less organized than last year. Her entire move-in process last year took one hour and this year she had to wait more than an hour just to receive her room key.

Also available for the students were chances to find out about clubs and employment opportunities around campus.

Junior business major Jeff Olson had a table set up in the lobby of Douglas Hall, attempting to find students to work in the Douglas Dining Services. Having parents around helps get more student workers, Olson said.

“If the kids say no, I can just ask dad if he wants to pay for college by himself,” joked Olson. “It’s really important to get to them early, we need a lot of help.”

Even NIU’s new men’s basketball coach Rob Judson was present, along with Al Knickerehm, the general manager at radio station Kool FM 95.7, urging students to go out and support the basketball team and handing over water bottles for the parched.