Nearly 1500 New Royals Begin Scranton Journey

Smiles – maybe a little nervous – but smiles nevertheless – graced the faces of nearly 1,500 new students as they moved onto The University of Scranton campus and prepared for the fall semester classes that began Aug. 28.

Forty-two members of The University of Scranton’s Class of 2027 arrived early to participate in the 20th anniversary year of FIRST (Freshmen Involved in Reflective Service Together), a reflective service immersion program at Scranton. FIRST’s student founder, Clare (Strockbine) Acosta ’04 returned to speak about the program to incoming students.

“When I was a freshman, I wanted the opportunity to do community service as part of orientation,” said Strockbine in a 2003 news story about the launch of the FIRST program. “I approached Pat Vaccaro with the idea for starting this program and both she and the University supported it wholeheartedly.”

Class of 2027 FIRST participants volunteered at the Belleview Center, Neighborworks and Friends of the Poor, shown above.

COHORT LARGEST IN 15 YEARS 

 


On Aug. 24, members of the largest cohort of graduate degree-seeking, international students in the last 15 years gathered for an orientation to campus and to Scranton. This fall, more than 120 new graduate degree-seeking international students, shown above, began studies at the University.

Incoming students also arrived early to participate in the Royals of Color Kickoff (ROCK) program. Read more about ROCK here.

SETTLING IN AT SCRANTON RESIDENCE HALLS

On Aug. 26, members of the Class of 2027 moved into residence halls. View a photo gallery of Move-in here.

The Class of 2027 represents more than 450 high schools and represents 15 states, including California, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia. More than 25 percent of the class is from Northeast Pennsylvania.

LEGACY STUDENTS JOIN ROYAL COMMUNITY

The incoming class includes 85 legacy children, shown, above, whose parents are University of Scranton alumni. Read more about the incoming Class of 2027 here.

MASS HIGHLIGHTS SATURDAY WELCOME

Fall welcome events on Saturday included a Mass at which the Class of 2027 banner was introduced and blessed, shown above.

Classes began on Monday, Aug. 28.