BOWLING GREEN - Bowling Green State University welcomed what may be the biggest class in its history, the university’s president said.
The university’s orientation for incoming Falcons ahead of the fall semester saw a 10 percent increase on its campus Tuesday.
Cecilia Castellano, vice president for enrollment management, said the exact number of incoming freshmen won’t be available until September, but BGSU estimates it has garnered at least 400 more students in its upcoming class than last year.
She attributes the jump in enrollment to offering the right programs and the university’s commitment to the student experience.
“We’re growing our STEM fields,” Ms. Castellano said. “We have health care and our new engineering majors. … I think students are really having a good experience both in and out of the classroom, and that is contributing [to the increase].”
Students and their families were welcomed to BGSU by university staff, including president Rodney Rogers.
“I think a big part [of the increase] is stressing the importance of the student experience,” Mr. Rogers said. “I think in the world we live in today, there needs to be a place where we care about every student and their success.”
Mr. Rogers encouraged the students to jump right into the college experience by introducing themselves to three new incoming Falcons they’ve never met before.
“This is a big ask for half the audience, the other half [not so much],” he said. “Here’s the path of coming together as a community, learning from each other. We’re going to gain new insights. We’re going to learn things. You’re going to have opportunities to be involved and engaged in all sorts of activities at this institution that will prepare you for the next journey.”
School staff encouraged students like Nehemiah Hurist, 18, to take advantage of certain tools like Life Design, which helps students with academics, choosing a career path, and career preparedness.
Mr. Hurist, who graduated from University Preparatory Academy in Detroit, decided to attend the university to pursue a computer science degree, he said.
The new Falcon has his sights set on a future career at Google, where he is currently earning experience as part of the search engine company’s Code Next program.
“I learned about it [BGSU] not too long ago. It was the beginning of my senior year,” he said. “I thought the idea of having the [Starship delivery food robots] around campus was cool, so I wanted to check it out.”
Aspiring forensic scientist Kendall Sufka, 18, from Macomb, Mich., said she didn’t know about Bowling Green State University until she began looking for schools with a forensic science program.
When she visited, Ms. Sufka said she felt like she had found what she had been looking for in a university.
“There aren’t many schools in Michigan with forensic science,” she said. “I started looking in Ohio because it’s close. I did one visit here and immediately fell in love with the campus. It’s not too big of a campus, but it’s big enough to still have that college. Everything about it is just perfect.”
First Published May 29, 2024, 6:54 p.m.
