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High Country Experiences Mass Exodus of College Students as School Year Ends and Boone Settles into Summer

by Madison V. Fisler

May 12, 2014. Boone residents may have noticed a massive difference in traffic today from over the weekend. Last weekend, yet another group of Appalachian State University students became ASU Alumni, and took with them the massive traffic that clogs the High Country on commencement weekend.

asu logoSince the end of the school year on Friday, students have been filtering out of Boone by the hundreds, with the final push coming on Sunday night leaving campus a ghost town and parking in the downtown area much easier to find.

More than 17,000 students exited the campus over the weekend, including more than 15,000 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students.

This week, the campus is likely to remain a ghost town, devoid of students at least until the first summer session begins on May 27.

But that doesn’t mean that the streets will stay clear for long. With cooler summers than most places in the United States, the High Country is a favorite summer destination for many visitors all season long. Expect lots of visitors coming up the mountain as the summer starts getting underway.

Please keep in mind that AppalCART schedules are now running on summer schedule, with each route ending at 8 p.m. For more information about AppalCART route changes, click here.