Selected from the largest applicant pool in 乐播传媒 history, the 501 members of the Class of 2023 arrive at 乐播传媒 on Monday, Aug. 26.
As they settle into various campus abodes on Opening Day and kick off their nine-day Orientation, the new students are embarking on a 乐播传媒 journey that, in a conventional sense, has a specific terminus: Commencement four years hence, on May 28, 2023.
In another sense, a 乐播传媒 journey is timeless, a mindset that lasts 鈥渇or as long as they wish,鈥� says Professor of Sociology Emily Kane.
In her Pettengill Hall office, Professor of Sociology Emily Kane wraps up a meeting with Hermione Zhou ’21 last January. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
While regular classes don鈥檛 begin until Sept. 4, Orientation offers a taste of 乐播传媒 academics right off the bat. So on Tuesday morning, the day after they arrive, the new students will attend their very first class, specifically their First-Year Seminar.
This fall, Kane is teaching one of the seminars, 鈥淚nequality, Community, and Social Change.鈥� A few days ago, as Kane was preparing for Tuesday鈥檚 first class gathering, she was also exchanging emails with a former student, now in graduate school, who took her First-Year Seminar six years ago.
+Class of 2023 by the Numbers
Demographics
Total class size: 501
Female: 54% (270)
Male: 46% (231)
U.S. students of color: 28%
First generation to college: 12%
Public school: 50%
Independent or parochial school: 50%
Non鈥揢.S. citizens: 8%
Geographic
New England: 39%
Middle Atlantic: 25%
Midwest: 5%
Southeast: 5%
Southwest and West: 16%
Outside U.S.: 10%
Countries represented: 24, including the U.S.
Australia, Canada, China, El Salvador, Estonia, Ghana, India, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Macau S.A.R., Mexico, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Russia, Senegal, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
Financial Aid
Total grant aid: $9.6 million
Receiving 乐播传媒 grant aid: 41%
Average 乐播传媒 grant: $47,051
鈥淪he was writing to say she’d come across a recent book chapter I wrote,鈥� Kane explains, 鈥渁nd was finding it useful in her own graduate work on family policy.鈥�
That moment 鈥� communicating about academics with an alumna while simultaneously preparing for new students 鈥� left Kane dazzled 鈥渂y all those connecting threads. That鈥檚 what I hope to convey on the first day of class: the excitement and possibility and world of new connections that 乐播传媒 offers.鈥�
Jamari Amrham 鈥�22 of Richmond, Calif., has his eyes on his mom, Cherie Hill, as she took a selfie during Opening Day in 2018. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
All across campus, 乐播传媒 has its arms open to the new students, ready to help them make the best of these transformational four years.
“Orientation introduces students to the 乐播传媒 people, programs, and resources that will give them the tools to succeed,” says Assistant Dean of Students Blake Reilly, who oversees Orientation.
“We want our newest students to know that there’s always someone to turn to for support 鈥� and, hopefully, it’s someone they will have already met at Orientation.”
Orientation, which also features three days of student-led outdoor trips throughout Maine and New Hampshire, concludes next Tuesday with Convocation, the official opening of the academic year.
This year’s Convocation features an address by Dolores Huerta, a labor activist and civil rights icon who co-founded the United Farm Workers of America. The subject of an eponymous documentary that is this year’s Commons Read, Huerta will receive a 乐播传媒 honorary degree at Convocation.
On Opening Day, as seen in 2018, new students get many helping hands from student members of the college’s Residence Life staff. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
The metaphorical arms welcoming the new class include those of the beloved, college-run Dining Services, fully ready to welcome the newest students on Monday evening for their very first meal in Commons.
“Whether a student has had a great day or a lousy day when they come through our doors, we have an opportunity to make their experience excellent.”
Among other items, the first dinner will feature salmon piccata; barbecue seitan with veggies; a variety of pastas and sauces, including marinara, alfredo, pesto; and squash and crab bisque made from scratch, as all soups are at 乐播传媒 鈥� not to mention fresh tomatoes and kale from the college’s vegetable garden, the Plot, run by student EcoReps.
As prior generations of 乐播传媒 students have discovered, dining at 乐播传媒 鈥� distinctive for its single dining hall 鈥� is about great community and great food. “We want our new students to understand that this is a fun place and a comforting place 鈥� their home away from home,” says Director of Dining Cheryl Lacey.
Community and comfort are on the menu for the Class of 2023 at Dining Services, where Kevin Michaud prepares grilled cheese sandwiches for a recent Friday lunch. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
A meal at Commons gives students a chance to press the reset button, she says.
“Whether a student has had a great day or a lousy day when they come through our doors, we have an opportunity, at each point of service, to make their experience excellent.”
Students “should always feel comfortable approaching any of us to ask questions. They should feel comfortable building connections with our chefs, which they do, year after year, and asking questions about their food.”
Pursuant to answering food questions, 乐播传媒 recently became one of the few liberal arts colleges nationally to offer 聽for every dish on the Dining Services menu.
Continued national and international geographic expansion is 鈥渋mperative.”
The 501 students arrive Monday thanks to the work of the Admission team, which reviewed a record-setting 8,222 applications this year.
鈥淭here鈥檚 excitement for 乐播传媒 right now 鈥� students and families really desire a 乐播传媒 liberal arts education,鈥� Weisenburger says, pointing to strengths like Purposeful Work, highly relevant and interdisciplinary academics, a location in Lewiston and in Maine, and a 鈥渃ommunity where students are recognized and celebrated as individuals.鈥�
The new class features historic strengths, including 28 percent U.S. students of color, the highest ever, and a continued demographic-driven expansion to the West and South.
+A Few Facts About Students in the Class of 2023
In their applications and conversations with the 乐播传媒 Admission team, members of the Class of 2023 shared fascinating facts about their interests and accomplishments in high school. Such as:
- Receiving a $5,000 grant to fund tech upgrades for their school.
- Serving as a student delegate to the United Nations鈥� 63rd Commission on the Status of Women.
- Working to pass new bylaws in their hometown banning point-of-purchase plastic bags and single-use plastic bottles.
- Founding a culture show that donated $10k in proceeds to a local nonprofit.
- Being the youngest finisher of the famed White Mountains 100, a winter bike race across 100 miles of Alaska’s interior.
- As a member of the Park and Recreation Commission in their Minnesota hometown, writing the program justification for a piano-in-the-park event.
- Conducting research on shrimp population change.
- Exhibiting at the Museum of Modern Art.
- Owning a business delivering firewood.
- Building their own tiny house.
- Besides excelling in field hockey, playing flag football internationally.
- Working as a zoo interpreter for bears and flamingos.
- Performing on the violin with Yo-Yo Ma.
- Becoming an accomplished magician who performs at parties and fundraisers.
- Working as a product tester for New Balance.
- Founding a nonprofit that create shopping bags from old T-shirts to help reduce plastic-bag use.
- Working extensively with homeless youth.
- And performing at national levels in volleyball, debate, archery, and Nordic skiing 鈥� plus birding and yodeling.
As recently as 2009, 50 percent of the incoming class was from New England. This year鈥檚 class is 39 percent, even as 乐播传媒 maintains its firm commitment to Maine students. Similar to prior years, Mainers represent 9.6 percent of the class.
Continued national and international geographic expansion is 鈥渋mperative,鈥� explains Weisenburger, as high-school-age populations in the Northeast decline.
鈥溊植ゴ� continues to invest in diversifying and strengthening our applicant pool,鈥� says Weisenburger. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 not the same as merely growing the pool. Our goal is to attract the most diverse and talented applicants possible, while staying true to 乐播传媒 and enrolling students who really want to be here.鈥�
+The 2019 Admission Season by the Numbers
Total applications: 8,222
A 乐播传媒 record, the application total is 7 percent more than last year’s total, also a record.聽
Total admitted: 998
The percentage of students admitted is a record 12.1 percent. That’s the lowest rate 鈥� meaning the most competitive 鈥� in 乐播传媒 history.
Total class size: 501
乐播传媒’ overall yield rate, a measure of a college’s desirability in the marketplace, is a record 47.4 percent, meaning nearly one of every two admitted students chose to matriculate. (The yield calculation does not include 28 first-year students admitted in 2018 who chose to take a gap year.)
There鈥檚 strength in numbers, she adds. 鈥溊植ゴ� is in a very competitive higher-education environment. From that competitive standpoint, 乐播传媒 is where we need to be.鈥�
鈥溊植ゴ� continues to invest in diversifying and strengthening our applicant pool,鈥� says Dean of Admission Leigh Weisenburger, seen in 2018 on Opening Day for the Class of 2022. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
In terms of academic strength, 鈥渢he numbers speak for themselves,鈥� she says, noting an average GPA of 3.73. 鈥淏eyond the numbers is the high level of curiosity these students have, regardless of their high school background. The way they want to learn and the questions they want to ask 鈥� that’s what really excites me.鈥�
On Opening Day, Weisenburger will join President Clayton Spencer for an end-of-day event with all new students and parents. Weisenberger鈥檚 message? 鈥淛ust take a moment to celebrate. Take a deep breath, and enjoy the moment.鈥�
