Connecticut College welcomes the Class of 2018

Parents have hugged their students goodbye and roommates have worked out who gets which bed. The 503-member Connecticut College Class of 2018 moves on now to the challenging, fun and memorable parts.

Connecticut College welcomed its centenary class of incoming students on Friday, Aug. 22, for a six-day Orientation. The class represents one of the College’s most diverse groups of Camels ever, with students from four continents and 20 countries throughout the world, plus students from 30 U.S. states and the Virgin Islands.

The incoming class includes champion skiers and figure skaters, world travelers, farmers, activists, Serbian folk dancers and poets, among others. During Orientation, the students take part in programs and activities designed to help them get to know each other, the College and the local community before the start of classes on Thursday, Aug. 28. They will celebrate the opening of the academic year with President Katherine Bergeron and the entire College community at Convocation, Aug. 28, at 4:30 p.m., on Tempel Green.

President Bergeron welcomed the students and their parents during a special assembly Friday afternoon. In her remarks, Bergeron reflected on the College’s history and how the openness, progressivism and “grit” that characterized the institution’s founding classes and curriculum continue to define the College today.

“Your liberal education at Connecticut College will offer you a very real set of opportunities to think and do and lead: to grow both intellectually and socially; to discover your passions; to experience the courage of your convictions; to make a difference in the world,” Bergeron said.

The Class of 2018 is well-prepared to meet those challenges. Strong academically, half of the incoming students graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes and 85 percent graduated in the top 20 percent. They hail from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Swaziland, Lebanon, Egypt, Thailand, Japan, China, Croatia and many more countries, and speak dozens of languages , including Urdu, French, Arabic, Fulani, German, Spanish and Hindi.

It’s also a class of contrasts. Fifty-nine students are the first in their families to attend college, while 34 others have parents or grandparents who graduated from Connecticut College. The College also welcomed 28 transfer students and a cohort of seven students seeking master’s degrees in psychology. Thanks to social media, many of the students had already gotten to know each other prior to their arrival on campus – and many shared their stories and photos with the College community.

The Class of 2018 enters at a time of historic significance for the College, including Bergeron’s first full academic year as president, a College-wide effort to redefine and advance its progressive curriculum, and a major renovation of the Charles E. Shain Library.


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August 26, 2014