Class of 2017 Starts a New Tradition

Members of the Class of 2017 formed a giant "H" on the lawn in front of the Biology/Chemistry Building.

First-year students wore T-shirts to Convocation with the message “Your Only Limits Are Self-Imposed.”

First-year students signed the Class of 2017 banner, which will hang in Mortensen Library for the next four years.

Members of the Class of 2017 moved into their new homes on Friday and Saturday, assisted by Howie's Helpers.

“Your Only Limits Are Self-Imposed.”

Some 1,500 new students wore T-shirts emblazoned with that message Saturday, as they officially became members of the University of Hartford community.

President Walter Harrison echoed that theme as he welcomed a spirited and enthusiastic Class of 2017 during Saturday’s Convocation in Lincoln Theater.

“Each of you will have different experiences here, and you’ll all learn different things. You’ll learn about yourself, about your major, other people, and the world around you,” Harrison said during the Convocation ceremony. “And the only limits you have are the ones you impose on yourself. We’re here to challenge you – to bring out the best you have inside.

“We think you have made a great choice in becoming members of this University,” President Harrison continued. “You have surrounded yourselves with people who believe in you, believe in your potential. It is impossible to fail as long as you refuse to.”

Read President Harrison’s Convocation remarks.


A New Tradition

After Convocation, the entering students carried the “Class of 2017” banner to the lawn in front of the Biology/Chemistry Building (ISET), where they started a brand new tradition.

Members of the Class of 2017 formed a giant “H” on the lawn, kicking off their University of Hartford careers with an eye-catching display of school spirit.


A Diverse Class

The campus was bustling with activity throughout the weekend, as first-year and transfer students moved in on Friday and Saturday, and thousands of returning students moved in on Monday.

New students had an exciting and jam-packed schedule over the Labor Day weekend, as they participated in “Liftoff,” the fall orientation program for new students.

See photo galleries from Move-in Weekend on Facebook.

The University had 16,178 applicants last year, the largest applicant pool in the school’s history, Dean of Admission Rick Zeiser told students during Saturday’s Convocation. The University’s Class of 2017 comes from more than 35 states, including Hawaii, as well as 27 countries, including Denmark, Vietnam, and Nigeria.

“We have students from all over the world and just around the corner,” Zeiser said.

The majority of entering students are from Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, but 21 members of the Class of 2017 are from California. The foreign countries sending the most first-year students to the University of Hartford are Saudi Arabia, China, Korea, and Kuwait.

Among the members of the Class of 2017 are 35 Hartford Scholars. Founded in 1990, the Hartford Scholars program provides half-tuition scholarships to Hartford residents who are graduates of Hartford public high schools.

The Class of 2017 is evenly split between male and female students. The most popular majors among the incoming class are biology, engineering, architecture, physical therapy, and psychology.

The Class of 2017 may be diverse, but the T-shirts that all the new students wore on Saturday symbolize their common bond as members of the University of Hartford community, President Harrison said in his Convocation remarks.

“We’re a diverse place, made up of many different people. We come to this place from many different backgrounds,” Harrison said. “Our success comes from learning to recognize and celebrate our differences and embracing what makes us similar – it begins with the University of Hartford and ends with our common humanity.”