Loud music and honking cars greeted hundreds of new students at Castleton University on Thursday for move-in day.
Cars filled with boxes, mini-fridges, and microwaves lined the residential side of campus. Energetic Community Advisors and Student Orientation Staff welcomed new Spartans and helped unload vehicles. Proud parents in Castleton shirts carried pillows, desk lamps, televisions, and shower totes, while students lugged overstuffed suitcases filled with clothes.
The license plates of cars parked in front of the University’s 11 residence halls reflect the geographic diversity of the University’s community.
There are 725 new students coming to Castleton University this fall, and 60 percent of the incoming class are Vermont residents. The Class of 2023 includes students from 19 states and eight countries, including Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Sweden, Norway, Japan, Ghana, Honduras, and Canada. Many are the first in their families to go to college.
“This is one of the most exciting times of the year, and we are so happy to welcome the newest members of the Castleton family to campus,” said Castleton President Dr. Karen M. Scolforo.
New student orientation continues throughout the weekend, with activities including the class tree planting, matriculation ceremony, a cookout, a civic engagement project, and much more.
All first-year students will participate in candlelighting, an annual tradition where students light candles at the steps of the Old Chapel and process through the Alumni Gates to Woodruff Hall. The candlelighting ceremony is held again the night before graduation, when students will reverse their order of procession, passing through the Alumni Gates to symbolize their transition from students to alumni.
The University’s returning students come back to campus on Sunday. The first day of classes for the fall 2019 semester is Monday, Aug. 26.