But just as important was a gut feeling.

“There was this moment when I visited Fordham after I had gotten accepted, and I was going down the escalator” in the Lowenstein Center, Liu says. “There was the ‘New York is my campus, Fordham is my school’ sign, and I remember thinking, ‘Yeah, okay, I think I can spend four years here.’ It was very clear to me that this was the place I belonged.”

Liu not only got the dance training that prepared her for her current role in the national touring production of Funny Girl, but she became an orientation leader on campus—in part to help students find their own “escalator moment.”  

“I loved the fact that everything was in its own little radius,” she says. “I was like, ‘Okay, I feel like there’s a little community for me here. Even if I am in this huge city where there’s a million things to do, I know I have this little pocket.’ I wanted other people to have that experience.”

Finding Structure—and a Spiritual Connection—Through Art

Growing up in San Francisco, Liu knew she wanted to attend college in New York City.

“For me, it felt like a mecca,” Liu says. “This is where art is. This is where art flourishes. This is where art is appreciated. This is where we feel like we can be fully who we are and not have to hide anything, and just be allowed to be in community with the people who are the best at this in the world. There’s just really no other place like it.”

As she settled into the BFA program, she decided to pursue a minor in business administration “to have skills to bring to the table if I own a small business or help someone else with their business,” she says. And the first-year course Faith and Critical Reasoning was a formative one for her.

“Seeing how people create structure in their lives around religion almost reminded me of how I create structure in my life around art,” she says. “Regardless of what religion it is, it all comes down to the same thing: wanting to feel alive, wanting to feel appreciated, wanting to feel love, wanting to give love. I think that is my philosophy around art as well. It’s just sharing human experience.”

Since graduating from Fordham in 2019, she’s been sharing that experience with audiences as a dancer, actress, and model at places like the J Chen Project dance company, on Apple TV’s Dickinson, and as a cast member of Cabaret at Connecticut’s Goodspeed Opera House. Now, she’s bringing her talents across the United States on the Funny Girl national tour, a yearlong job that began last August and will take her through this summer—and that has brought her to some new favorite cities, like Des Moines and Memphis, and to San Francisco for a hometown run. She says the Funny Girl tour feels like a culmination of what she’s been building toward. “I remember just crying, being like, ‘Okay, everything that I’ve been working toward and wanting and manifesting is finally coming to fruition,’” she says of finding out she landed a role in the tap-heavy musical. “It feels like a step in the right direction toward the rest of my goals.”

Creating Community on Campus

While dance and academic studies keep BFA students plenty busy, Liu also wanted to get more involved on the Fordham campus outside the classroom. She gave campus tours for prospective students, was an orientation leader, and served on the Senior Week Committee, which planned events and celebrations for her class’s upcoming final year—from a boat cruise and Dave & Buster’s night to information sessions on housing and personal finance workshops.

“It was community building and preparing yourself to be an adult and spending time with friends,” Liu says of her experience on the Senior Week Committee. “I just wanted to take advantage of all the opportunities that I had to connect with people and create relationships that were not solely focused on dance.”

Fordham Five

What are you most passionate about?
Sharing my art and being accessible to people who feel like I can be of help to them.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Two: It’s not all about you, and everything happens for a reason.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
Oh, that’s such a hard question! I have to say Sheep Meadow in Central Park. It’s a little cheesy and basic, but it’s real. New York is my favorite place in the world. Once you leave New York, you’re like, ‘Oh, thank God I left,’ but then you’re like two, three days out and you’re like, ‘Wait, now I miss it!’”

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.
Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman. I did my senior choreography thesis based on it. It’s this somewhat fictional, somewhat based-on-fact short story collection. He theorizes how Einstein was imagining how time moves. It is so much about questioning reality and questioning your perspective on things. That’s been a basis for how I take things in and how I see the world, for sure.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire most?
I loved Dean Milton Javier Bravo, who taught Faith and Critical Reasoning. I appreciated that he didn’t just see me as a student, he saw me as a human. He was like, “Okay, you’re on your own journey and this is my class, but what you bring to the class is more important than you just showing up and sitting here.” He was always trying to get everyone else involved in the class. On the Ailey side, the one who’s closest to my heart is one of my ballet teachers, Caridad Martinez. She’s a former Cuban ballerina, incredible technician. I loved her class so much. It was always the hardest class. I would make sure in my schedule that I could get into her classes, because she knew the way I worked. She was able to push me and be like, “Kathy, is that really your best? I don’t think you’re giving me your best today. I know you can do better than this.” I hope she knows that she’s been a big influence.

“You’re going to be making decisions from day one about who you want to be, and part of the wisdom that we want to give you today is that being a good and decent person will make you happier,” Tetlow said to about 400 students at the Lincoln Center campus on Aug. 18. “We want you to think about … who you’re trying to be in the world, to never lose sight of that.”

The Professionalism Panel, a time-honored tradition at the Law School sponsored by the Fordham Law Alumni Association, was a unique part of orientation programming for first-year law students. It was the only time that the entire class would gather in the same room besides their graduation ceremony, said the Law School’s dean, Matthew Diller, and a place where they formally take the “Oath of Professionalism” at a ceremony joined by faculty and alumni. But on a deeper level, the event showed the students what it takes to build a meaningful career and life, no matter how they decide to use their degree. 

A Personal Reflection From President Tetlow

The professionalism panel began with an introduction from Tetlow, who recalled her own experience in the legal profession. 

“It was 30 years ago this week that I was starting law school, feeling absolutely terrified and thrilled at the same time,” said Tetlow, who would go on to collaborate on cases with the FBI and lead a domestic violence clinic at Tulane Law School. “There will be 1,000 tiny [decisions]about who you want to be as a professional, and most of all, as a human being.”

To a lawyer, professionalism is more than being polite—it’s acknowledging that lawyers wield enormous power, she said.

“I remember sitting in your shoes, not feeling terribly powerful. But you are, in fact, about to garner a whole lot of power … to do right by your clients, even when you’re really busy and exhausted; to follow the rules, even when it’s tempting not to, and fundamentally … to uphold our democratic systems or to chip away at them,” she said.   

‘Look At a Case as a Person’ 

Tetlow then moderated a panel of accomplished alumni whose careers have taken them to different sectors of the law: Jojo Annobil, LAW ’90, executive director of Immigrant Justice Corps, a nonprofit that trains lawyers to assist immigrants in need; Palmina Fava, LAW ’97, a partner at Vinson & Elkins, LLP, who has tried and defended cases in federal and state courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court; Sam Khichi, LAW ’98, an executive vice president and general counsel at multinational medical technology firm Becton, Dickinson and Company; Hon. Katherine H. Parker, LAW ’92, U.S. magistrate judge for the Southern District of New York; and David Tanen LAW ’96, co-founder and partner of Two River, a venture capital firm that assists life science companies. 

For about an hour, the panelists reflected on their own careers and how their Fordham education has made a difference. 

Khichi, an immigrant and veteran who graduated from law school at age 31, said he found a “hardworking, gritty, good” community at Fordham, where he balanced evening classes with a daytime job. He said that the Jesuit values he learned at Fordham helped him to distinguish himself from his other colleagues. 

Annobil, a lawyer who has protected immigrants’ rights for nearly two decades, described how his career embodies a Jesuit education. “You look at a case as a person,” said Annobil, who is an immigrant himself. “I try my best to see how I can [meet]that person’s hopes, fears, and aspirations.” 

Fava said that her pro bono legal services are inspired by her identity as the daughter of immigrants and a veteran, as well as the mother of four children with different learning styles. “I look at my pro bono service in keeping with those issues, with immigrants’ rights and veterans’ rights [and education],” said Fava. “Those are the ways that I try to channel the things that are interesting to me, that I have some experience with, that I understand, and [where I]can make some changes.”  

Personal Advice From the Panelists

In addition, the panelists shared practical advice that can be applied to not only the courtroom, but professions in every field: 

Don’t forget to invest in your personal relationships, even when life gets busy. “Relationships really matter, and they’ll carry you when things are tough,” said Khichi. “I can tell you that when things were tough for me throughout my career, it was the Fordham relationships that I made, whether they were with faculty or folks I attended school with, that I relied on for advice.” 

Take care of yourself before you help someone else. Otherwise you’ll burn out, said Annobil. He urged the students to exercise, sleep, and to devote time to themselves. “It’s OK to say, no, I can’t take this case because I have too many things going on in my life right now,” he said. 

Put yourself in another person’s shoes. Tetlow asked the students if they had ever had to engage with a lawyer or knew someone who did. Half of them raised their hands. “Remember that feeling of hoping your lawyer is going to return your call, of hoping that they are prepared, that they actually care about you and your case,” she said. “It wasn’t until I was 40 that I actually had to hire a lawyer for something. It was a very humbling experience.” 

Don’t be afraid to admit when you don’t know something. Be truthful when you don’t have a fact or case at your fingertips, said Judge Parker. “Be able to say, ‘I’m not sure about that. I can get back to you tomorrow in a letter,’ or something like that.” 

Don’t underestimate the power of EQ. “Someone’s ability to get along with others is just as important, if not sometimes more important, than their pedigree of service,” said Khichi. 

Treat all people with respect—including your adversaries. Judge Parker said she asks people for their pronouns and honorifics, checks to see if they require accommodations, and encourages firms to allow their junior associates time to talk. She also said that it’s important to be courteous to your adversaries in the courtroom. “There’s a belief that some lawyers have that in order to be aggressive and zealous in representing your client, that means being a jerk to your adversary, and that’s not the case. You can be very effective, but still be cooperative,” she said.  

Be prepared to pivot. Tanen said he always wanted to be a criminal defense attorney. When that career path didn’t work out, he was devastated, but he later found another opportunity and went on to co-found several companies. “Fordham teaches you to be a gritty attorney,” he said. “There is no job too big. There is no job too small.” 

Despite the many changes this year, some things remain constant: Nothing could keep Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, from his long-standing tradition of personally greeting students and families. And though their smiles may have been hidden behind their masks, New Student Orientation leaders cheered on the incoming class with all the enthusiasm of years past.

More than 2,000 first-year students joined the Fordham community this August, both on campus and remotely. Members of the Class of 2024 hail from 47 different states and more than 40 countries. They are a talented bunch academically, with a mean high school GPA of 3.64.

Safety Measures

In an effort to make the transition back to campus as safe as possible, Fordham implemented new policies and installed a variety of new equipment. All members of the Fordham community will be tested upon their return to campus and again within two weeks. Daily check-ins via the Vital Check app are required to make sure members are in compliance with health guidelines. All those on campus are required to wear a face mask and follow appropriate social distancing measures. And students were asked to take the Ram Pledge to do their part to safeguard the community.

Throughout University campuses, hand sanitizer stations were installed, classroom seating was reduced, and new ventilation was installed to help maximize the use of outside air and reduce the amount of recirculated air. Enhanced cleaning procedures were put into place and new directional signs were added to encourage one-way traffic. In dining areas, protective barriers were installed and self-serve stations were eliminated.

Despite the unprecedented times, members of the Class of 2024 said they’re still excited to begin their college experience, even if it looks a little different than they’d imagined.

A New Media Artist

Araly Langomas never thought she would start college in a pandemic. But she’s very grateful to be on campus.

“I waited so long to get here,” said Langomas, a New Jersey native who now lives in Queen’s Court. “Fordham is doing a good job, and they’re definitely being very careful.”

Langomas is a new media and digital design student at Fordham College at Rose Hill. Her artwork has been featured in a statewide exhibition in New Jersey and sold on Redbubble.com. She also curates content about her life on her YouTube channel, including a tour of her new home at Fordham.

In the past week, Langomas has explored campus and visited the McGinley Center and the Rose Hill Gym with her orientation group. She has tried Cosi’s pesto chicken sandwiches—the “best thing” she’s eaten on campus so far—and she’s excited to become involved with the Office of Multicultural Affairs and join musical theater and art clubs. And she looks forward to exploring the city with her new friends, once it’s safe to do so. 

“Right now, [being]  here, I feel like a college student,” Langomas said.

A Motivated Bronxite

When Bronxite Syeda Rahman, a first-year student at Fordham College at Rose Hill, was deciding where to go to college, two things appealed to her about Fordham: the ability to stay close to home during the pandemic and the opportunity to mix liberal arts with her biological sciences major.

The pandemic forced Rahman to finish her senior year of high school virtually, and while it was tough at first, she said it helped prepare her for college, which she will also be starting fully remotely.

“It was difficult to make a smooth transition into quarantine life and online classes and to be consistently motivated,” she said. “I did not want to give up with the pandemic as an excuse for my experience falling short. I learned how to work in a virtual classroom setting, had a virtual graduation ceremony, … kept in touch with my friends online, and grew closer with my family. After all the remote experiences I have had so far, I feel a lot more confident starting college during this time than I was a couple of months ago.”

‘Gaga’ for Live Theater

When Trey Sullivan entered high school in Providence, Rhode Island, he set out to write a musical about issues facing his contemporaries, including poverty, divorce, and the difficulties of coming out. He wanted to complete the piece by the time he graduated and he wanted to tell the story using music by Lady Gaga. He accomplished both, including getting the rights to three dozen Gaga songs from her management in Los Angeles and, eventually, from Sony Publishing.

Though he remains passionate about theater—both plays and musicals—Sullivan plans to major in new media and digital design at Fordham College at Lincoln Center. Now, with the pandemic shuttering theaters, it would seem that Sullivan made a prescient decision, though he doesn’t see one as a substitute for the other.

“Even in the short time of quarantine, I did a lot of video editing [of performances]. My first impression is that even if you approach theater digitally, you’ll still want it to have that feeling of catharsis of when you witness live theater,” he said.

In a phone call, as he gazed out at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts from McKeon Hall, he said he’s confident he made the right choice.

“It’s only day three, and it’s not fully set in but I can see how amazing it’s gonna be,” he said.

Ready for Business

As Emma Burke was getting ready to leave Danville, California, for the Gabelli School of Business at Rose Hill, she said her friends were getting news that nearby universities were shifting to online-only instruction. But she was determined to make it to campus.

“I’ve been looking forward to college for so long and worked so hard for this—and lucky that my family could financially do this, not everyone can. I just feel lucky to be here,” said Burke, who will concentrate in marketing.

“I was always interested in business and all the opportunities—how marketing can make or break a business. And it comes naturally to me,” she said.

After a two-week quarantine, Burke said she went to orientation and felt more comfortable than she was expecting to.

“I’m kind of impressed at how many people are out and keeping their distance. But it’s not just people sitting around, they’re making use of the opportunity to go outside. We don’t want to mess it up; we want to stay as long we can.”

A TikTok Star from Argentina

Margarita Fernandez Pereira will be taking her first Fordham classes from more than five thousand miles away.

Pereira is a first-year Fordham College at Lincoln Center student who will study remotely this semester from her home in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Pereira and her family decided it would be best for her to remain home during the pandemic. After some initial disappointment, she’s making the most of her first semester.

Through online orientations and meetings, Pereira has made friends with people from around the world. In one Zoom meeting, she met a first-year student from Brazil who had attended the same Global Young Leaders Conference in New York City as she did last summer. In another meeting, she bonded with students about TikTok, where she has nearly 80,000 followers. And she connected with peers over this summer’s shared read, The Colossus of New York.

“[After our first Zoom call], I told my mom, ‘I think this has been the best Zoom call I’ve ever had,’” said Pereira, who plans to focus on international studies. “We all talked about our own personal experience with New York, race, and identity. It was such a beautiful discussion.”

Sibling Inspiration

Charlie McAtee arrived in Manhattan from Punta Gorda, Florida, on Aug. 14 and spent two weeks in quarantine with his older sister, Morgan, in her apartment on West 85th Street. It was Morgan’s Fordham experience—she’s a junior now—that inspired Charlie to enroll at Fordham College at Lincoln Center. After two weeks sequestered in an apartment, he’s enjoying views of the Time Warner Center from his room in McKeon Hall and spending time in Central Park.

“When we first came to the University, we didn’t even know if we were on campus when we actually were, because the University blends in so well with the city. Fordham likes to integrate you in the city and make sure you understand that you are now part of it. You come to understand that real life is all around you,” he said.

McAtee said memories of his parents recounting old movies got him interested in screenwriting before he even knew how to write. His interest in that specific skill waned, but his desire for a career in television and film did not, and he’s hoping a major in New Media and Digital Design will help him get there.

Father McShane chatted with the new arrivals on everything from Arthur Avenue’s best thin-crust pizza to what they can expect as new Rams.

“You’re in Loyola?” Father McShane asked a freshman hailing from Minnesota who was in the back seat of her family’s car. “You’ve hit the jackpot. That used to be a former Jesuit residence. You’re going to love it.”

The 1,344 families who arrived for opening day at the Bronx campus came from 42 states— from New Hampshire to Maryland to Illinois to Kansas.

A second home

Awaiting their arrival at the freshmen dorms were upperclassmen and football players like Matthew Donovan of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The greeters hauled boxes of clothes, storage containers, TVs, and mini refrigerators for the new students.

Jordan Better and his family were grappling with the damaging effects of tropical storm Harvey in their home town of Houston, but Better was relieved by how smooth move-in went with the help from his new community. “They don’t leave you on your own here,” said the Jogues Hall resident, who joked that he was lucky to be paired with a “minimalist” roommate since he probably brought one too many boxes.

Christopher Wildes of Astoria, Queens, was looking forward to transitioning into a “new chapter of life.”

“My brother is a senior here, and when I visited it just felt like a second home,” he said.

Sotiris Georgakopoulos, of Saint James, New York, decorated his room with a map of the world and some photographs from his frequent globetrotting.

“I’ve been all over Europe—England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Greece,” said Georgakopoulas, who hopes to study international political economy. “I’m kind of a nerd for economics, but I have a particular interest in geopolitics, and understanding how other countries function.”

‘Minoring’ in New York

Down at Lincoln Center, near the heart of Midtown Manhattan, Father McShane encouraged students to take advantage of one of the University’s greatest assets: New York City.

“Whatever your major, be sure to minor in New York,” he said. “This is an important part of your existence here at Fordham.”

The skyline views from McKeon Hall drove home the point to students and their parents that they were in one of the world’s great cities.  On the 22^nd floor, Jessi McBrearty and Sara Duffy settled into their southward facing room, with the Hearst Tower and the Time Warner Center soaring in the background.

Just a few floors down, Teagan Giese of Mechanicsville, Virginia, savored the view of the Metropolitan Opera with her parents, John and Nicole. Her father said that, while he’s not a city person, he couldn’t deny the impact.

“My reaction is ‘holy smokes,’” he said.

Her mother Nicole said she “loves” the big city and mentioned visiting here when Teagan was young. When she decided to go to school in New York, Nicole admitted she was concerned.

“I said, ‘No we can’t afford it, you have to go to a Virginia school,’” said Nicole. “Well, little did I know there are all kinds of ways to help pay for private school. Who knew?”

Down on the plaza, Rachel Kim and her mother Amy represented the less awestruck, though no less appreciative, New Yorkers. Amy plans to commute from Queens.

“When I applied [for colleges], I thought ‘Everyone wants to be in New York City and I’m already here,’” she said.

Class of 2021 snapshot 

“This year we really tried to push social media as a resource for incoming students and as a way for them to see what’s going on,” said orientation leader Elle Crane, a senior at Fordham College Rose Hill (who for three years in a row has donned Fordham ram horns to breathe extra school spirit into Opening Day events).

“We created a series of hashtags on Instagram, which we used both on the main orientation account and on our personal accounts. That way, there was a thread of photos to show both what Fordham leaders and Fordham students are saying about orientation,” she said.

Connecting on campus and online

Phones flashed and shutters clicked as students and their families documented the milestone on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Fordham alumni also chimed in, reminiscing on the threads about their own Opening Days. “Good luck to everyone!” wrote one alumna. “Remembering my days at FCRH, Class of 2006.”

Even President Joseph M. McShane, SJ, who was distributing water bottles in the parking lot to arriving families, paused to join the virtual conversation.

“Welcome to Fordham, the Jesuit university of the capital of the world!” Father McShane said via Snapchat. “We’ve been looking forward to the Class of 2019 all summer, and today is the day.”

Social media also had a practical upshot for the new freshmen. Many students used the various platforms to connect with their roommates and to divvy up supplies for their new living spaces.

“We followed the orientation Facebook pages and Instagram account, and also the Fordham Snapchat to connect to each other and to get information about orientation,” said freshman Kendall Perata, of San Jose, California.

The virtual bonds were mere precursors, however, for the real connections that awaited the freshmen.

“I was worried, being so far away from him—until we saw the school. After that, I had no reservations whatsoever,” said Kristen Tibbetts, of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, whose son Nathan was moving into Loyola Hall.

“You get an immediate feeling walking onto campus that the people who work here care deeply about the students. I know he’s well looked-after here.”

Mentoring new students

At Lincoln Center, Sunday’s orientation activities included a Freshman Commuter Student welcome. Vincent Apicella, from the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, said the party on Robert Moses Plaza made him feel instantly connected to the school.

“I like this,” he said, sticking close, at first, to a group of school friends from Xavier High. “The first time I stepped on campus was January. It just felt right. It was that simple.” He said he hopes to spend not just four, but seven years at Fordham, tracking into its law school after finishing his undergraduate degree.

Apicella and his friends were eventually assimilated into one of nine commuter groups for a series of games on the grass led by upperclassmen mentors. More than half of the college’s students are commuters.

FCLC junior Daniel Villar’s first question to his group, he said, was “how was it getting here today?” All 20 of his students showed up, he said, which was “something to get excited about.”

“We are there for them,” said Villar, a psychology major who will mentor the students through their entire freshman year, taking them on group outings and offering individual guidance. “They can come to us with any questions—academic, social life, commuter problems, anything.”

Once a commuter student himself, Villar said it was helpful to have a mentor “especially when you have so many doubts about everything coming into college. You don’t know who to turn to.”

That camaraderie, said Crane, is what kept coming to mind while she worked her final Opening Day.

“I feel a bit nostalgic, because these freshmen are starting their first year as I’m starting my last,” she said. “It’s awesome to see their excitement in joining a community that I myself have felt so excited about.”

— Janet Sassi contributed to this report

See more social media on Storify.

Class of 2019 Statistics

Fordham welcomed 2,189 students to the Class of 2019, with 1,541 of those students at Rose Hill and 648 at Lincoln Center, drawing applicants from a pool of nearly 43,000.

One of the most distinctive features of the Class of 2019 is their stellar academic achievement, said John W. Buckley, associate vice president for undergraduate enrollment. The freshmen class has a mean test score of 1275 and a mean high school GPA of 3.64.

“It’s truly an extraordinary class from the standpoint of academic readiness,” Buckley said. Consequently, 215 students were accepted as presidential, dean’s, and merit scholars. Overall, 91 percent of the Class of 2019 was offered some sort of University financial aid.

The new class brings to Fordham a number of students from previously underrepresented regions across the United States. In particular, the Rocky Mountains region saw a 43 percent increase while the Southern region saw a 19 percent increase. The Pacific West and the Southwest followed with 7 percent and 4 percent increases, respectively.

In addition, the number of international students climbed to a total of 187 students hailing from 29 countries.

Opening Day 2015

[doptg id=”28″]

Photos by Bruce Gilbert and Dana Maxson

The three-day welcome begins Sunday, Aug. 30, when 1,722 resident students and 473 commuters will arrive at the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses in the Bronx and Manhattan. Fordham staff and administrators, as well as 210 student orientation leaders, will be on hand to help new freshmen acclimate to campus.

“The goal of orientation overall is to help new students transition into University life, both by getting information and by being made to feel that they’re part of the Fordham community,” said Jennifer Lackie, director of the transition year experience.

“We’ll have excellent staff available to help with the move and all the transitions, physical and otherwise,” said Kimberly Russell, director of residential life at Rose Hill. “The new students shouldn’t worry about anything beyond what color bedspread they want.”

Both campuses have a packed schedule for the day, including a Mass for students and their families and an official welcome from Joseph M. McShane, SJ, president of Fordham.

Once their families depart, the freshmen will continue to get to know one another at various greetings and gatherings. The night ends with Rose Hill’s Ramapalooza in the Loschert Courtyard and Lincoln Center’s Night of Welcome on the Plaza.

Day 3, “Student Life Day,” features various topics related to living and socializing on a college campus. The day will include presentations and speakers on diversity, wellness, and living the Fordham mission.

“That day will introduce students to the resources that are available at Fordham. They’ll discuss topics that come up on a college campus, such as having healthy relationships and how to make your time at Fordham safe and enjoyable,” Lackie said.

“The students will also get to learn about Fordham’s campus ministry and discover what goes on with programs such as Global Outreach and the Dorothy Day Center.”

Connect with Fordham

…and tag it #Fordham4Me !

More than 2,200 freshmen participated in Fordham’s Opening Day, with 1,700 students moving into the residence halls and 539 commuter students checking in.

Despite the crowds arriving at the Rose Hill campus, the day unfolded with its customary precision.

“When you get to the residence halls, don’t pick up a thing,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, greeting caravans of freshmen and their families. “The students will take care of everything.”

As cars from as far as San Francisco and as near as White Plains pulled into the parking lot, Father McShane and student volunteers offered the travelers water bottles and some helpful pointers.

“You must visit Arthur Avenue while you’re here,” Father McShane counseled. “I recommend Tra Di Noi. Tell them I sent you. Do you like veal? You can cut it with a spoon there.”

He motioned to an SUV with Louisiana license plates to roll down the windows.

“You’re moving into Loyola?” Father McShane asked a student in the back seat half-concealed by a mini refrigerator. “You are so lucky.”

Making Rose Hill history, about 130 students participating in the Manresa Scholars Program moved into the newly renovated Loyola Hall, which was once home to more than 100 Jesuit priests. The 86-year-old Gothic building includes classrooms equipped with SMART technology, a kitchen, study nooks, and the St. Ignatius of Loyola Chapel.

On the fourth floor, Maine resident Sarah O’Connell was moving into a spacious triple overlooking Cunniffe House. As she placed keychains shaped like work boots (tokens from her home state) on her new roommates’ beds, she recalled her first visit to Fordham.

“It was like a scene from [the TV show]‘Say Yes to the Dress.’ I stepped on Fordham’s campus and immediately knew that this is where I wanted to be,” she said.

“One of the deciding factors was that when I came for a tour, everyone was wearing Fordham apparel,” she added. “It sounds trivial, but it showed that the students here have a sense of pride in their school.”

Meanwhile, across campus new commuter students were checking in. For some, the day was an introduction to the Bronx campus, while for others it was a homecoming.

“I wanted to stay in New York City and go to a school where I could study environmental science,” said I’aliyah Wiggins, a Parkchester native who had already taken summer classes on campus.

“Fordham seemed to have everything I wanted.”

At the Lincoln Center campus, the soaring, 22-story high McKeon Hall was the star of the day. Perched atop the new Fordham School of Law building, which opened its doors earlier in the month, the Pei Cobb Freed-designed building was buzzing with movers from 7:30 a.m. until late afternoon.

West 62nd Street was closed to non-Fordham and Lincoln Center traffic for the occasion, and while workers toiled across the street on Fashion Week facilities at Damrosch Park, Fordham families arrived at times pegged to their floor number.

With roughly 100 international students already there, the four elevators delivered 306 more to the eco-friendly high-rise, which features modern bedroom suites, common living spaces, study lounges, a movie theater, a dance space, a dining hall, and great views.

Mark Mecurio drove down from Providence, R.I., to drop off his fourth son, Nicholas, who will pursue theater at Fordham College Lincoln Center. He marveled at the operation from the sidewalk.

“Out of all four, this was the easiest. The service is unbelievable. You come in, they tell you where to go, everybody’s here to help you, they unload your car, and in ten minutes, you’re out,” he said.

“This is in the city; I figured it would be the most difficult, and it was the easiest.”

Among the new residents of the building are 62 students enrolled at the Gabelli School of Business’ brand-new, undergraduate program at Lincoln Center, offering a Bachelor of Science in Global Business. Some, like Whittier, Calif. resident Gregory Govea Lopez, needed to only visit New York City once to settle on Fordham.

For incoming Fordham College at Lincoln Center student Esther Feliz Terrero, moving to Manhattan from the Dominican Republic was both exciting and bittersweet. She was born in Yonkers and lived there until her family moved to Santo Domingo, but she was drawn back to the United States for her education.

“I always loved New York, and I’ve always come back for the summer. I just love roaming around the city,” she said.
“Fordham is a very good college, and it’s liberal arts, which I wanted. I like that my classes won’t just be my major. I want to become a global citizen and know a bit about everything.”

Fordham welcomed 2,246 students to the Class of 2018, with 1,678 of those students at Rose Hill and 568 at Lincoln Center—a 15 percent increase compared to last year’s freshmen class. The University made just over 19,000 offers to nearly 41,000 high school applicants, an acceptance rate of 48 percent.

The freshman class has a mean score of 1260 on the SAT and ACT and a mean high school GPA of 3.6. Additionally, 192 students enrolled as presidential, dean’s, and merit scholars. Overall, 91 percent of the Class of 2018 was offered some sort of financial aid.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Class of 2018 is its diversity, said John Buckley, associate vice president for undergraduate enrollment.

The new class hails from 43 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. “We have over 50 students from the southwest region of the United States, and we have more than 140 from the west—including more than 120 from California alone,” Buckley said.

In addition to being more ethnically diverse, this year’s freshman class includes 171 international students from countries as far as Ghana and Myanmar. Of that population—which saw a 26 percent increase since last year—111 students come from abroad, while more than 60 are international students who attended high school in the United States.

“To have students from diverse backgrounds engaging with one another in conversation, debating ideas, and having both academic and social experiences together — that is essential for a quality educational experience and for a strong community,” Buckley said. “And when you consider the city in which we’re located, which is truly global, it’s important for the Jesuit University of New York City to reflect that environment.”

Sanghyun Lim, a Columbia, South Carolina resident who hails originally from Seoul, South Korea, is one of those 60 international students. While his two roommates unpacked their belongings in their new home on the 15th floor of Lincoln Center’s McKeon Hall on Sunday, Lim raved about the space, with its view of the Hudson River and Midtown Manhattan to the south. Like his fellow international students, he moved in before his fellow classmates, to allow for more time for adjustment.

A student at Fordham College Lincoln Center, he plans to major in communications and media with a concentration in film, and hopefully become a film producer or distributor.

“I came here once in seventh grade with my brother, and both of us said, ‘This is a great place; we should come here when we grow up,’” he said.

What does it take to get to Fordham?

Good grades in high school and a mountain of extracurricular activities, to be sure.

For the Class of 2015, it took something more: enough savvy, luck and determination to outlast Hurricane Irene, the worst severe-weather system to tear through the Northeast in a century.

The storm postponed Opening Weekend for 24 hours, so when freshmen and their families began moving in to residence halls at Rose Hill and Lincoln Center on Aug. 29, many had stories to tell.

Surveying the Martyrs’ Court room where her son, Christopher, will spend the year, Laura Sanders declared it a step up from their home in Northport, N.Y.

“Well, it has electricity, which we didn’t have when we left,” she quipped.

Blaire Eberhart, who is pursuing a bachelor of fine arts in dance through the Ailey/Fordham partnership, tried to dodge the storm by arriving in New York on Friday.

“It was a good idea to postpone move-in day,” she said. “My hotel was so flooded that I couldn’t have left even if I wanted to.”

Despite the damage to her basement caused by the hurricane, Marion Dougherty said she harbored no ill will toward Irene.

“It meant one more day before my daughter left home,” said Dougherty, whose daughter, Jenna, enrolled in Fordham College at Rose Hill. “No matter how much you prepare yourself, it’s hard to send your little girl away to school.”

Whatever torment was dealt to the area, the day after the storm was, by all accounts, picture perfect. Azure skies and temperatures in the mid-70s temporarily erased the memories of blackouts, flooded basements and downed trees back home.

“The hurricane was a challenge, but so far everything has been going smoothly,” said student orientation leader Louis Sullivan. “It’s important for us to keep up our energy and make students feel welcome, because their first impression of Fordham sets the tone for their whole time here.”

The move-in program, which opens three days of new student orientation, is run by the University’s Office of Student Life and Community Development (OSLCD).

Though freshmen typically pull up to their respective residence halls as early as 7:30 a.m., this year the traffic was light until almost noon. New arrivals were set upon by throngs of cheering and dancing orientation leaders who quickly transferred the students’ belongings to the appropriate rooms.

“They didn’t do that at the University of Arizona or at NYU when my sisters went to school,” said Peter Gyben, a student in the Gabelli School of Business who hails from Orange County, Calif.

The ritual shouting of new students’ names that accompanies the move-in process is one of the hallmarks of Opening Weekend at Fordham.

“I have been so impressed; it’s so organized,” said Jeanine Bonaventure, whose daughter is in the theatre program at Lincoln Center.

“Fordham cares about the students, they care about the families and they care about education,” she said. “After my daughter had her interview in January, she told me she had to go to school here.”

“This year’s class is both remarkably talented and incredibly diverse, selected from the largest applicant pool in University history,” said John W. Buckley, associate vice president for undergraduate enrollment.

Overall, 31,721 high school seniors competed for admission. The University made 13,424 offers—a 42 percent acceptance rate—and 1,957 students chose to enroll.

The Class of 2015’s mean test score of 1253 continues the trend of higher-testing students choosing Fordham, while 78 percent ranked in the top quarter of their high school class.

The incoming freshmen include 114 international students—more than double the number from last year, with the greatest increase coming in students from China.

Additionally, the class features 201 students who were Presidential Scholars, Dean’s Scholars and Semifinalist Scholars while in high school—an increase of 48 percent over the previous year’s total.

More than 90 percent of admitted students were offered financial assistance or scholarship funds.

“I love Fordham; everyone is so nice—genuinely nice,” said Sajia Hanif, an incoming student from Long Island who wants to pursue peace and justice studies as well as music education. “It’s a perfect fit for me.”

“I chose Fordham because it’s in New York and I want to be an inner-city music teacher,” said Peter Walker from Lincolnville, Maine. Walker hopes to contribute to the Lincoln Center neighborhood during his time as an undergraduate.

“I’m a professional organ player, and I hope to play at [nearby]St. Paul’s—maybe even for Masses,” he said.

Editorial Assistant Jenny Hirsch contributed to this report.

In fact, Cahill, a recent graduate of St. Louis University High School in St. Louis, Mo., had never visited New York City before he traveled to Fordham with his mother to attend New Student Orientation.

Standing in the middle of Keating First auditorium, Cahill said his only frame of reference for understanding the city was Nanjing, China, which he visited for two weeks last March.

“New York reminds me a lot of that because I was in a really urban part of Nanjing,” he said. “It seemed a lot more hectic there though; there were twice as many cars and hundreds of thousands of people driving on bikes.

“Here, there are a lot of people who seem like they’re immigrants. It’s a lot more culturally diverse than St. Louis.”

Cahill, who enrolled in the College of Business Administration with plans to major in finance and minor in Chinese, certainly got a taste of multicultural New York City. Earlier that morning, he and his mother, Ann, took a wrong turn out of the subway and walked several blocks down East Fordham Road before realizing their error.

It didn’t faze them, though, and after experiencing Rose Hill firsthand and learning about the opportunities Fordham offers in international business, Cahill said it was exactly what he wanted in a college.

“I really wanted to get out of St. Louis and go someplace—not really exotic—but away from the Midwest. I like the East Coast, so that’s another reason why I chose it,” he said.

“My counselor described Fordham as an oasis right in the middle of the Bronx, where you can forget that you’re in a city with millions of people.”

The daylong orientation, which drew roughly 200 students, was the first of three non-mandatory programs that Fordham offers during the summer to help incoming freshman make the leap to college. Talk of academics dominated the morning, while the afternoon was dedicated to campus life and extracurricular activities, such as cultural, political, service and special interest clubs.

Question-and-answer sessions in Keating First were followed by smaller breakout sessions outside, where orientation volunteers answered questions and explained the intricacies of the freshman dorm visitor policies to Cahill and five other students.

“Residential Life at Rose Hill,” a larger presentation for parents and students given in the McGinley Center Ballroom by the Office of Residential Life, filled out the day. Integrated learning communities in Tierney Hall and Queens Court were given special emphasis, and in case the presentation wasn’t convincing enough, tours of the buildings were offered afterward.

Although Cahill expressed interest in living in the newly renamed Loschert Hall, he and his mother toured Queens Court. That also afforded a brief visit to the University Church before they caught the D train back to their hotel in Times Square.

“This will be the first time I’ll be away from home for an extended period, and I’ll probably only come back during Christmas and during the summer, so it’ll be interesting to see how I can deal with that,” said Cahill, who’s eager to find a place to pursue his passions for racquetball and piano. “But I’m not really nervous; I’m more excited about it.”