VCW RHO — Saying that she “just wanted to make sure” her daughter was doing fine in her first month of school, the mother of freshman Nicki Salzburg (COL ’18) decided to send herself in her first package.

Opting against using one of the pre-planned University care packages, Veronica Smoot-Salzburg decided the best way to show that she cared about the well-being of her daughter would be to create her own care package consisting of home-baked goods, room decorations and her physical presence.

Smoot-Salzburg described the 2-day shipment from Raleigh to DC as a “little tough” since the box was 3x5x5, but “I used UPS express, so it wasn’t that bad.”

Within the box, Smoot-Salzburg attached a sticky-note to her forehead which read “Hey honey! Just wanted to send you a little something to show you how much I’ve been thinking about you! Love, Mom.”

The RHO in VCW was markedly tame about the receiving the package.

A stock photo of a University care package which Smoot-Salzburg opted against.

“It actually happens a lot more than you’d think,” said VCW RHO Chief Mariah Winslow (SFS ’16). “We just check to make sure the parent inside is alive and we just e-mail the student as per usual.”

“Parents generally get a little stir-crazy in there if the kid doesn’t pick up the package for a few days, but it’s definitely better for the parents than just sitting around at home being bored,” said Winslow’s colleague Alexander Abel (COL ’17).

The Georgetown administration encouraged parents to visit their children through appropriate channels, such as parent’s weekend, but, Georgetown Events Coordinator Sandy Prince acknowledged, “we’ve obviously can’t stop parents from wanting to invest themselves in their child’s collegiate experience.”

Salzburg, upon receiving the care package, decided it would be best to just put her mom on the shelves above her desk along with the home-baked cookies and brownies and “just use her when need-be.”