Members of the Wagner College Class of 2020 arrived on campus Thursday to begin their four-year college experience.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- There were smiles, hugs, a few tears, but mostly just controlled-confusion as members of the Wagner College Class of 2020 arrived on the Grymes Hill campus Thursday to begin their four-year college experience.
The day got underway not long after sunrise, as students and parents began to arrive from all over the country.
Music blared from speakers outside Harborview Hall, as a parade of cars, directed by volunteers and campus security, waited to pull up to unload.
As each car pulled up, a team of upperclass volunteers rushed out to help unload. They commandeered deep, rolling bins that they expertly loaded with bedding and other items transferred from car trunks. Heavier items were carried by hand, down the hill and through the doors, into the lobby and into the elevator. Empty bins were trundled out to begin the process again.
Here's the skinny on Wagner's Class of 2020:
- The 447 members of the Class of 2020 include 48 new transfer students, 85 second-degree bachelor's students and 4 visiting exchange students. coming to Wagner College this fall.
- The new freshmen hail from 27 U.S. states -- about 42 percent from outside New York State -- as well as 10 other countries (Ukraine, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, Peru, India, Hungary, Guatemala, Canada, Bermuda and Afghanistan).
- Outside New York, the states represented by the most new students (in descending order) are New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Connecticut, Florida and Massachusetts.
- Two new American students from Hawaii claimed the record for the longest trip to join the Class of 2020 from within the United States. Each of them traveled nearly 5,000 miles.
- The longest journey by a freshman to Grymes Hill this week, worldwide, is from Kabul, Afghanistan -- more than 10,850 miles.
- The Class of 2020 is 58 percent female and 42 percent male.
- Three out of four incoming freshmen will live on campus; 25 percent will commute.
- The most popular female names in the Class of 2020 are Emily (11), Victoria (7), Alexandra (5), Ashley (5), Lauren (5) and Sarah (5).
- The most popular male names are Joseph (9), Nicholas (7), Matthew (6), Daniel (5) and Tyler (5).
- Slightly more than 25 percent of freshmen are student athletes.
- The Class of 2020 includes one set of triplets: Jaclyn, Kristi and Nicole Simonetti from Grasmere, all graduates of Moore Catholic High School.
- Three members of the Class of 2020 begin their college years by celebrating their birthdays; they are Emily Moor, Lindsey Haas and Kelsey Eastman.