President, first lady help students move, thank parents for choosing Grambling State

By YA’LISHA GATEWOOD
GSU Media Bureau

Grambling State University President Rick Gallot helped haul a trunk and more for new freshmen Angel Parker and Dejanay Reed up the stairs to the third floor of the Sojourner Truth dormitory during Sunday’s move in day.

He and first lady Christy Gallot roamed the campus from the campus residential life center to dorms checking on some of the more than 500 students who moved into dorms on campus from as close as Ruston and Baton Rouge and from as far away as Wisconsin, New York and California.

David “Rusty” Ponton, GSU’s interim vice president of student affairs, said even more new students are expected to arrive this week, especially from southern Louisiana areas where heavy rains and flooding have caused extensive evacuations and relocations.

The president said he has been through GSU move in days for years as a lifelong Grambling resident, a Grambling student and graduate, but this time was different. “As president it is very special because all the parents and students I spoke with said the transitioning process has been seamless,” he said.

One parent, Barnessa Reed of Oak Hill, California, said she researched Gallot before flying to Louisiana and she was surprised with an “unexpected…blessing” when she met the president as her two daughters moved in.

“We were walking out to help my daughters move in and there he was…I was like, oh my God, there’s the president,” she said, standing a few feet away from Gallot. “How awesome that he’s out here to greet us.”

The Gallots teamed up with Student Government Association leaders toting boxes, suitcases and bags into dorms as the president asked the new students whether they needed assistance, where they are from and what majors they plan to pursue.

Ruston High School grad Ali Williams, 18, said it was great that the president helped students move in because “he is showing us that he is one of us and that he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.”

Gallot said his presidential style is simple: “Part of being president is being accessible and being visible.”

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