Sitting in the sun in front of Coram Library with their ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ professors, the 491 members of the Class of 2028 who gathered for Convocation on Tuesday heard advice, both timeless and timely, about navigating their new college.

In his welcome, President Garry W. Jenkins invited the new students to take their place as the newest stewards of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ culture of being open to ideas and beliefs that might differ from one’s own. “It is the work we do together for the broadening and bettering of ourselves, our community, and our world,â€� he said.

Time-tested advice also came from two student speakers, Sivani Arvapalli ’26 of South Windsor, Conn., and Ethan Chan ’25 of Westborough, Mass., co-presidents of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Student Government, who invited the incoming students to be unhesitant in seeking help from those around them.

“When you find yourself facing a new obstacle, considering a new perspective, or exploring a new path, reach out to those here to support you: Professors, advisors, staff, and peers are all here for you,â€� said Chan. 

Along with the timeless, there was also timely advice and guidance reflecting current events, especially the U.S. presidential election just 62 days away.

“You begin your college careers in, shall we say, interesting times,â€� said Jenkins. “We have a hotly contested emotional presidential election coming our way. As a society, our commitment to openness and civil discourse will be tested as we struggle to meet across lines of discord and difference. 

“It’s going to be a challenging time in the U.S., but I believe in this community. I believe in ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and that means I believe in each of you and in your commitment to openness, to engagement, to active listening, and to respect for those around you. This is the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ I know and love. This is the community into which I’m so proud to welcome you.â€� 

In these challenging times, Jenkins said, it is crucial to “fight the urge to say or to think, ‘How could anyone think X or support Y or believe Z?’ I have. I’m not proud of it.”

In resisting the urge to automatically nay-say what others believe, “we need to learn both how to listen and how to be heard, how to make an argument and how to really understand the arguments and feelings of others,” Jenkins said. “We need to learn how to relate and connect across differences — how to thoughtfully consider the ways our approaches and actions may be affecting others and how we use that information to pivot or reframe if necessary.

“We need to commit to empathy when it comes to our treatment of others, both in person and online, and learn from our missteps. We need to learn how to see and embrace the complexity rather than simply assert the certainty.”

The welcomes and offerings to the Class of 2028 during Opening Convocation — advice to seek connections, to be open to others, to try new things — reflect in part the deep history of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½â€™ annual back-to-college ceremony.

A century ago, the academic ceremony to welcome incoming students was known as “First Chapel,� as a bookend to “Last Chapel� exercises for the senior class held each spring prior to graduation. Now known as Opening Convocation, the fall event remains thematically tethered to Commencement, also held on the lawn in front of Coram Library.

“So it’s here at the heart of this beautiful campus where generations of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ have come to celebrate both the start and the summation of their studies,â€� said Jenkins. Gathering together in a meaningful place helps us understand who we are, Jenkins added — the feeling of being “rooted in a powerful sense of place and being part of local, regional, and global ecosystems.â€�

The timeless power of place was also invoked by the event’s guest speaker, award-winning author Sonja Pieck, the Clark A. Griffith Professor of Environmental Studies. Reflecting a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ tradition, Pieck was chosen by the graduating Class of 2024 to offer this year’s address to the incoming Class of 2028.

Pieck urged the new students to roam freely around their new home. â€œOpen yourself to notice and appreciate what is here now,â€� she said. “There are so many quiet, lovely corners waiting to be discovered, like Lake Andrews and its inhabitants, memorials and markers,â€� she said. 

“Find people from the groundskeepers to the archivists at Muskie Archives from your history and anthropology professors to those in ecology and earth systems to help you explore and understand this landscape more deeply.�

The search for beauty and joy “can radiate out into the community, too,� she added. In Lewiston, “appreciate the signs of care and solidarity, the graffiti art and the murals, the children playing in Kennedy Park, the laughter of friends meeting up at the Lewiston Farmers Market, the neighborhood flower boxes, or the Lisbon Street storefronts that someone lovingly tends.�

Pieck’s remarks were titled “Mind the Gap,â€� which refers to the recorded audio warning heard at train or subway stations in the U.K. alerting passengers to heed the space between the train and the platform. 

In terms of a helpful metaphor for life at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, “minding the gapâ€� means to mind and tend to those “feelings, memories, and meaningsâ€� that tend to get pushed into the gap as we lead busy lives. New college students, especially, are susceptible to shoving important emotions into the gap as they forge ahead in their new community. Grief, she said, is one of those emotions.

In her 2023 book, Mnemonic Ecologies, Pieck explored the conservation of the once-militarized Iron Curtain borderland between the former East and West Germany. Violence and death, and thus grief, were part of the border’s history and legacy. During her research, Pieck saw how conservation on wounded land must engage with grief and memory.

“I know grief is an unusual topic for Convocation, but my field deals with loss and grief all the time,� she told the students. “As individuals, as a society, and as a planet we are awash in loss. So how do we honor grief when it comes, tend to it and grow from it?�

Here, Pieck recalled the mass shootings in Lewiston 11 months ago, and conversations that she had with her students in the course “The Politics of Wildlife Conservation,â€� which included studying species extinction. 

Throughout the semester, “grief had been our constant companion,� she recalled. During a class session after Oct. 25, she asked her students to describe the difference between the two powerful human emotions of grief and despair.

Etymologically speaking, “grief� is related to the Latin gravis, meaning “weighty,� while the word “despair� comes from the Latin verb desperare, “to be without hope.�

But the class discussion that day “didn’t actually dwell on etymology,â€� she said. Instead, they talked about the dominant emotion — grief — that was everywhere in Lewiston after the killings. “Grief was everywhere. Despair, however, was not. A trip through Lewiston neighborhoods showed the living, changing facets of grief — fear, sadness, confusion, anger — and also love, connection, community care, courage.â€�

Those qualities triumphed in the days, weeks, and months after the killings. “People throughout Maine declared themselves ‘Lewiston Strong.’ The governor declared, ‘We will all help you carry this grief.’â€� 

“In contrast to despair, grief is alive,� said Pieck. “It breathes, it ebbs and flows and transforms within us, and it changes over time. Grief is born from the loss of something we love. Many have said that grief is a hallmark of care and the price we pay for the joy of loving. So grief can call forth some of the most noble and powerful human emotions.�

This is the “gift of grief,� she told the new students, offering three ways that grief can offer timeless lessons in how to be better and more effective humans.

First, grief teaches us to slow down, where “we become sensitive to even the tiniest magnificence: the breath of our own bodies, the rustling of the leaves above our heads today, or the indescribable magic of a new friendship.�

Second, grief teaches resilience. “Coping with loss makes us develop the capacity for dealing with change, with setbacks, with frustration — the uncertainty inherent to living,â€� she said, adding that “so many of us are eager to support and help you. As you build resilience in the face of challenges, you’re not on your own.â€�

And third, grief teaches the power of community, “opening us up to our common humanity and bringing us together,â€� she said. “In fact, shared grief is the inner core of most social movements, including #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, where people harness shared grief to make change. Their profound love for their families, their communities, for land, for place, fuels a vision of what can be imagined.”

Convocation concluded with the traditional tree-planting service, including poetry, music, a watering ritual, that is held in memory of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ faculty and staff who have died in the past year. The newly planted tree this year was a hop hornbeam, along the path between the Class of 1929 Gate and Hathorn Hall.

Here, too, the emotion of grief was invoked as a path toward healing. â€œThis complexity of emotions within grief is a beautiful thing, a truly human thing, a strength,â€� said the Rev. Brittany Longsdorf, the college’s multifaith chaplain.

“I invite you in this shared moment of remembrance to feel those layers, those tangles of emotions. This is a moment of spaciousness for those complexities, those tangles to settle in. We can breathe into that space, we can name how much we miss our departed colleagues and friends, feel the depth of that sadness — and also creatively dream of the way they live among us in memory and impact.�

The names of these late ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ faculty and staff were read at the service:

• Albert Fereshetian, Athletics
• Frank Ford, Facility Services
• Normand Gagne, Facility Services
• David Gaynor, Facility Services
• Sue Houchins, Africana
• Pamela Johnson, Art and Visual Culture
• Frank Lyons, Campus Safety
• Dana Mulholland, Athletics
• Eric Polley, Facility Services
• William Pope L., Theater and Dance
• Kenneth Smith Sr., Dining, Catering, Conferences, and Events
• Richard Spalding, Facility Services

From local heroes to global advocates, with concern for creatures large and small, the incoming Class of 2028 brings to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ a heaping helping of talents, achievements, and successes.

Selected from a record 10,029 applications, the new class of 491 students comes from 38 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C., and 29 countries outside the U.S.

The new students are entrepreneurial-minded: Some three dozen have experience founding organizations, clubs, or businesses: a biology tutoring gig, an eatery offering Pakistani comfort food, and a school club teaching students about taxes.

The new students have good cents: One is a budding numismatist with expertise in worldwide coins. And, success is in the cards: One is as a buyer and seller of sports memorabilia and trading cards.

ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ offers 31 varsity sports; the new class brings a few more sports: polo, boxing, fencing, figure skating, luge, and mountain biking.

The humanities and arts are well-represented: music (jazz saxophonist, opera singer, and marching band percussion leader), dance (ballet performer and choreographer), theater (improv), and creative writing (published poets and fiction authors).

And, of course, there’s academic curiosity — bioinformatics and environmental chemistry to public health and economics — and community engagement, whether building homes in Peru, raising funds for earthquake victims, or guiding athletes in adaptive sports.

The new class includes students who have:

• Served as president of a veterans appreciation club and interned with a veterans group to raise awareness about wounded veterans who do not receive dental benefits.
• As an animal-rights activist in Russia, helped to create a distinctive dog-socialization program to rehome 900 dogs to six countries.
• Helped scientists study Atlantic Ocean tuna to help with conservation efforts.
• Organized a Queer Ball and other events supporting LGBTQ+ students.
• Tutored Afghan girls barred from school by the Taliban.
• Volunteered as a driver for Meals on Wheels.
• Completed an Eagle Scout project to design and install a destination trail for people on the visual ability spectrum with interpretive text, braille, and QR audio web interface.
• Started a program for senior citizens to adopt kittens from local shelters.
• Founded a lacrosse re-stringing business.
• Co-founded two podcasts focused on women in male-dominated career fields.
• Developed an augmented reality app for children’s books.
• Founded a club teaching students about taxes.
• Run a pet-portrait photography business.
• Researched scallop populations and climate change.
• Conducted independent research on Black maternal mortality.
• Researched the impacts of climate change on coral reefs.
• Interned at a sustainable seaweed farming company.
• Worked as wildlife rehabilitator in New York state.
• Cultivated a pollinator garden at school.
• Volunteered to categorize fossils for the Field Museum of Science and Natural History from Hell’s Creek, Montana.
• Sang lead alto in the Beijing Philharmonic Choir.
• Played lead trumpet in the Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra.
• Staged a photography exhibit depicting life in rural Maine.
• Earned honors from First Lady Jill Biden at the White House for her environmental advocacy, joining other “Girls Leading Change.”
• Founded and led the town library’s book club.
• Experienced ice, rock, and mixed climber.
• Pioneered as the first female wrestling captain at school.
• Been the only girl on the school’s varsity football team.
• Been a chicken caretaker and member of town’s backyard chicken advisory committee.
• Earned a grand champion award for their steer at a Future Farmers of America show.
• Served as lead builder on an internationally competitive robotics team.
• Worked as a barista at a café supporting social inclusion of neurodiverse individuals.
• Been a YouTuber with 30,000-plus views on flight reviews and model aircraft.

The 491-member ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Class of 2028 arrives on Thursday, Aug. 29, bringing with it youthful hopes and aspirations — along with two new records for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ admission. Chosen from the largest applicant pool in the college’s history, the class is also the most racially diverse ever.

With a total of 32 percent of the class identifying as U.S. students of color, the college saw an increase in matriculation among both Black and Latinx students specifically, despite new challenges imposed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling on college admission.

The new class was selected from 10,029 applications, the third straight year of record interest in attending ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. This fall, the overall campus enrollment is expected to be approximately 1,780 students, with another 188 students, mostly juniors, studying abroad.

In terms of other demographics, the new students come from 38 states plus Washington, D.C., and 29 countries outside the U.S. Ten percent of the class is first-generation to college, and international students also comprise 10 percent of the class. 

The home states of the Class of 2028 reflect the college’s strategic efforts to address the shifting U.S. population. New England’s share of the U.S. population continues to grow smaller, while the Southeast, Southwest, and West continue to grow. Over the last decade, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ has increased the number of students from the Southeast, Southwest, and West by 21 percent. 

Opening Day

The start of New Student Orientation is Opening Day, where a high-energy team of nearly 200 upperclass ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students, along with dozens of professional ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ staff members, will greet and help new students move their gear into campus residences. (Fun fact: the move-in helpers will use 61 two-wheel dollies on Opening Day.) 

Among the helpers will be 60 members of the college’s Residential Life student staff. These students live and work in first-year residences as Junior Advisors, Community Advisors, and Team Leaders during the year, mentoring and supporting new students and creating community within all ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ residences.

In addition to Residence Life student staff, other student leaders helping the newbies get settled and feeling connected from Day 1 include upperclass varsity athletes, who have already arrived to begin practices; student mentors to first-generation students with the college’s Kessler Scholars program; community-engaged leaders with the Harward Center; and AESOP trip leaders preparing for three-day outings all over Lewiston and Maine.

The new Bobcats and returning students will move into campus residences that date all the way back to the college’s opening in 1855 (Parker Hall) as well as one residence, 96 Campus Avenue, that hasn’t ever had a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ head on a pillow.

The newest ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ residence, having been acquired several years ago, was just recently renovated by the college after previously serving as a convent for neighboring St. Mary’s Hospital for more than four decades, among other uses.

With move-in complete by early afternoon, the new students and their families and loved ones will hear a welcome from President Garry W. Jenkins and Leigh Weisenburger, vice president for enrollment and dean of admission and financial aid. 

First-Year Experience

Starting with Thursday’s Opening Day, the college’s award-winning First-Year Experience program of holistic and consistent support swings into action.

On Friday, the new students attend their first class, a get-to-know-you session of their First-Year Seminar, a course that all first-years take and where instructors serve as the new students’ academic advisers. Some sample seminar topics this year are “Sex in the Brain,â€� “Holocaust on Stage,â€� “Physics of Climate Change,â€� and “Heroes or Villains? Columbus and Castro.â€� (ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ classes officially begin on Sept. 4.)

On Friday evening, AESOP, the Annual Entering Student Orientation Program of on- and off-campus overnight trips led by current students, kicks off with a boisterous meet-and-greet welcome party, where trip leaders arrive in wild costumes to announce their trips to the first-year class assembled at Keigwin Amphitheater.

Continuing until Monday, this year’s trips include traditional outdoor excursions to places like Grafton Notch and Flagstaff Lake, and creative offerings like “Film Festival,â€� offering hands-on experience in film production, and “CulinarySOP,â€� a food-infused program featuring a cooking lesson from ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ chefs.

The college community will gather on Sept. 3, the day before classes begin, for opening Convocation, featuring guest speaker Sonja Pieck, Griffith Professor of Environmental Studies, followed by the memorial tree planting of a hop hornbeam near a walkway leading to Hathorn Hall. The first home sports game is that day, a 5 p.m. women’s soccer match vs. Husson University.

‘Where They Are’

During the 2023–24 recruiting season, the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ admission team visited hundreds of high schools and participated in over 300 college fairs and events across 26 states and 14 countries. “We want to meet students, families, and counselors where they are: in hometowns, neighborhoods, and schools. We strive to be accessible — always,â€� says Weisenburger.

Last spring, to engage newly admitted students, the team employed personalized outreach like phone calls, emails, and handwritten notes, alongside on-campus visits and virtual events.

“A ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ education is personal. Even at this scale, with an applicant pool over 10,000, we connect with thousands of potential ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students and we’re committed to that personal touch. That is the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ way. It starts with recruiting and carries into the classroom from Day One,â€� says Weisenburger.