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On a pristine late-summer Friday, dozens of jubilant Gustie Greeters and staff members welcomed hundreds of new students and their families to �鶹��Ƶ to kick off the 2024-25 academic year.

More than 540 first-year Gusties will arrive on the Hill this fall to embrace all the academic, co-curricular, and social opportunities our community has to offer. They’re returning to physical improvements to the campus such as the South Mall native prairie landscaping (which has been in full bloom all summer), the vibrant El Barrio plaza behind the Center for Inclusive Excellence, a host of new and improved signage all over campus, and the First Stop kiosk in the Jackson Campus Center, which will be all students’ go-to starting point for questions about College programs and services.

Our students also will be returning to a revamped curriculum that’s launching this term. This includes new schedule blocks, simplified general education options, a May term replacing J-term (which also moves Commencement 2025 from late-May to early-May), enhanced Advising Day services, and more. The highlight of these changes will be the new Signature Experience (aka, SigX), which creates multiple new or expanded pathways between a �鶹��Ƶ degree and future professional opportunities.

But before all that can unfold, the first-year students are focused on getting acquainted with their new home. On Friday, Benjamin and Lisa Adams helped their son, Allen ’28, move into Pittman. Upon putting Allen’s poker chips into a desk drawer, “He has to earn money somehow,” Lisa joked. Allen is the couple’s only child, “So we’re a little nervous,” she said. “But the Greeter enthusiasm was so infectious and joyous. It started the crying early.”

Carley Malm ’26, a first-time CF (Collegiate Fellow) in Pittman, noted two early perks of her new position: “The girls I’ve met are all excited to be here, [and] I get my own sink!”

Also moving into Pittman was Matthew Verwest ’28, with help from his family. Verwest comes to �鶹��Ƶ all the way from Fort Myers, FL Matthew’s father, Mike, works with a medical partner, Jane Simonsen Lukowicz ’70, who extolled the �鶹��Ƶ virtues. “She said to me, ‘�鶹��Ƶ is the reason I got into med school,’” Mike said, “I was like, whoa. And the patients of mine who [are alumni] all said, ‘I loved it!’ I never heard anyone say ‘�鶹��Ƶ was just okay.’” For his part, Matthew wanted a school where he could perform at a high level as a swimmer and a student. “I knew it was great here when I visited,” he said.

Before sending our new Gustie families off for their proud and teary goodbyes, President Rebecca Bergman led the opening Convocation ceremony in Christ Chapel with a charge to students and their families. “We want [students] to learn and to stretch themselves,” she said. “We prepare you for a purposeful life. And you parents have entrusted these young adults to a place with a strong mission that is centered around education of the whole person, where we stretch their minds, encourage them to get involved, help them to serve their future career aspirations, and equip them to be able to act on the great challenges of our time. I urge you, parents and friends, to be strong cheerleaders for these students while they are here. Support them through both their trials and the inevitable challenges they will encounter.”

She closed with words of encouragement to the first-years so important that she purposely said them twice: “I expect you to make good choices and to help others to do the same each and every day. So make a promise to yourself right now that you will strive to be your very best self every moment of every day as a Gustie.”