Howard University students and their families have made their way back to campus for the start of the Fall 2026 semester during Move-In Week, and for newly enrolled students, it’s the start of their journey as Bison. 

Last week, returning students, staff, and University leadership welcomed new Bison to Howard’s campus as they settled in at their respective residence halls. Interim president and president emeritus Wayne A. I. Frederick (B.S. ’92, M.D. ’94, MBA ’11), spent time at College Hall South and the Bethune Annex Aug. 6, where he made surprise visits to new families and engaged with returning students serving as volunteers. Throughout the afternoon, he was joined by members of his cabinet, including Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Cynthia Evers, Ed.D. 

 Although Frederick lived off-campus as a 16-year-old freshman, the event still evoked feelings of nostalgia for an individual who has experienced this Howard holiday countless times throughout the years and, over the past decade-plus, been able to directly steer the day’s development. 

 “While I didn’t move into the dorms [my first year], there were a lot of other activities on campus,” he recalled. “It was good to come on campus and see people interact. You meet people from all over the world — I think that’s one of the best things about Howard.” 

 Frederick cited increased volunteer participation and heightened preparation by both families and the University as evidence of the day’s evolution across generations, likening the atmosphere these days to a “festival.” 

 “One of the young ladies upstairs was talking about the vibes, the music, the energy, and that’s what you want to convey,” he smiled. “You want people to start off school in that way.” 

 A parent of two college-aged students himself, he was also empathetic to how this celebratory moment also carries at least traces of melancholy, as many parents are leaving their children in a foreign place for the first time. 

 “As joyful as it is right now, it’s still a little bit traumatic,” Frederick conceded. “Parents are going to leave; people are going to feel lonely and homesick. Giving them as much of a high, as it were, on the front end, is really helpful to the overall experience.” 

 Having experienced how other universities move in their first-year students, nevertheless, reaffirmed to Frederick how Howard is distinctive in its presentation. 

 “Ours is a lot more community-oriented, a lot more family-like,” he said. “When you move in here, you feel like you have a whole village helping you. You’ve got people volunteering from the different organizations and sports teams, which makes it a lot of fun, and then the greetings once you get in the dorms are also pretty special.” 

 “It’s important to do today well, and I think we do it probably more uniquely than anybody else.” 

Welcoming the Class of 2030 

First-year student Luke Melancon and his father Scott flew to D.C. from Houston, with most of Luke’s belongings shipped ahead to friends in the area. After landing, they picked up the items and headed straight to Drew Hall, the historic freshman residence for men that holds deep cultural and symbolic value at Howard.  

Scott Melancon, a retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who now works for the federal government, said the family spent recent months preparing for the move. Like many other families, there was one last trip to Target.  

Luke is one of a set of twins. His brother will attend LSU, and the family will make another move-in trip in two weeks. Melancon said he was proud of both sons and excited to see what they would accomplish.  

“We’ve given you everything we can give you,” he said. “Now it’s your time to step up and take the reins.” 

Luke said he chose Howard after attending a predominantly white high school in Houston. When he visited the University for a college tour, a tour guide helped reinforce his decision. “The guide said, ‘You have your whole life to be in a minority, so why would you go to a school where you’re in the majority?’” 

Luke added that he wanted the experience of attending an HBCU and was especially looking forward to campus life. He’s studying nutritional science in the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences and hopes to gain hands-on experience through Howard University Hospital. 

Since arriving, Luke said he’s found his fellow students friendly and welcoming, although the transition has not been without its challenges. 

“The first night was kind of hard, being away from home,” he said. “But I look forward to finding my own routine here.” 

A Bison Family Legacy 

Fellow incoming freshman Dreaux Antonoff was all smiles and high spirits while the customary hustle and bustle of Howard’s move-in day swirled around her at the College Hall North residence hall as she began the next step in her life journey. A few Student-athletes helped unload her belongings from the car and rolled them into the dormitory Aug 6. while her mother and siblings, who traveled with her from Los Angeles, California, were close by seeing her off. 

“I’m very excited. It’s a new experience I’m so ready for,” said Antonoff, a first-year student planning to study media and film. She would like to become a film director like one of her idols, Steven Speilberg. For Antonoff, it will all start at Howard, which she said already feels like home beginning with the moment her family arrived on campus. 

“I was immediately welcomed, and it just felt great. All the faces looked like mine, all the bright smiles. It felt so warm,” said Antonoff. 

There was never much question regarding where she would attend college. Her mother Leslie Antonoff (B.A.’07), who hosted “Butter + Brown” on aspireTV and is a digital creator behind the Hautemommie lifestyle brand, is a Howard alum. The mother and daughter joke it was preordained that the younger Antonoff would follow in her tracks to The Mecca.  

“‘This is where you’re going. This is where my money is going,’” Dreux Antonoff recalled of her mother’s gentle demands. “I said ‘Well I guess I’ll go.’ But it was ultimately my decision. While I was deciding, I was like this is where I should end up.” 

Deaux Antonoff said her mother developed great friendships and community at Howard, and she wanted to experience that as well. 

Leslie Antonoff liked being back on her old stomping grounds offering support during this “full circle moment bringing my daughter back here. It feels great to have a legacy student.” 

The alumna continued: “A lot of people were sad because she’s leaving. I’m not. I feel good that it’s the next opportunity for her, the next step. It feels like such an exciting time in her life, and I feel lucky that I kind of get to do it all over again. And she’s in great hands. Going to Howard is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. I know she will be taken care of and that she’s going to discover herself and blossom into an even better person than she already is.” 

Building a Future at Howard 

LaToya Cantrell, the first woman and first Black woman elected mayor of New Orleans, dropped her daughter RayAnn Cantrell off at College Hill North Aug. 6 after their 16-hour drive from the Big Easy, with RayAnn’s grandmother riding along for additional support. RayAnn is also stepping into family footsteps. LaToya Cantrell graduated from Xavier University, and other family members went to Howard as well. 

“Howard was her first choice,” said LaToya Cantrell, “and we’re just glad to be here, grateful.  She was raised to do this, to go to college and to an HBCU. We’re handing it off to a legacy that her father and I built. That was passed down from our ancestors, our family.” 

 The mother juggled her feelings as she prepared to leave her daughter on campus. “How do you feel as a parent? Different parents feel different things. For me, it’s so bittersweet letting her go but I’m proud of my daughter taking her education seriously and paving the way to get herself there and putting herself on the right path to a great future.”  

RayAnn Cantrell, who will study psychology at Howard, is looking forward to the new community she will embrace and welcomes the change it will bring. “Because I was in a PWI all my life, from two years old through 12th grade, having this switch where I’m around my people is what I really want, especially going into my future.” 

As excited as RayAnn is about this chapter in her life, it’s also scary because she is building her future on her own now as opposed to one with her mother at the helm. At the same time, she is escaping the toll that can come with being the child of a public figure. In addition to serving as mayor for two terms, LaToya Cantrell was president of the Broadmoor Improvement Association that led to neighborhood recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina.  

LaToya Cantrell said her entire family was on the front line during those years, but now her daughter is “finding her own community, one that is looking at her differently.” 

Added RayAnn Cantrell: “I’m finding my own independence in a whole other city, a whole other state. I’m on my own.”