For freshman Tommy Flynn, the University of Colorado Boulder checked all the boxes for what he was looking for in a college.
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He wanted to go to a place with strong academic programs that was far away from where he grew up in Massachusetts. Boulder as a city seemed to be a cool place to be, he said, and he likes to snowboard.
“It made the most sense for all the things I’d look for in a school,” Flynn said.
Flynn is one of 9,000 new students moving into 24 residence halls at CU Boulder this week, including about 7,500 freshmen and about 1,400 transfer students. This year’s incoming class represents all 50 states, 47 countries and more than 60 spoken languages.
Freshman Dalila Wall, from Kansas, moved into her dorm on Monday morning. She’s looking forward to meeting new people and being in the Boulder area, she said, where there’s a lot to do and see.
“I was a military kid, so this isn’t my first move, but it’s my first move on my own,” Wall said. “So it’s new, but it’s also kind of a familiar feeling. I’m a little nervous, I’m a little excited, I’m just a little bit of everything.”
Freshman Sunny Lounsberry, who’s from Thornton, chose CU Boulder because of its aerospace engineering program.
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“I want to take classes I’m actually interested in and get to choose them, and then I’m also looking forward to meeting new people and checking out events,” Lounsberry said.
CU Boulder Chancellor Justin Schwartz said this is a special year in particular because of the celebrations related to the university’s 150th anniversary and the January arrival of the Sundance Film Festival, bringing these students opportunities they can’t find anywhere else.
“One of our focuses is year over year increasing our first-year to second-year retention and our graduation rate,” Schwartz said. “We think this class is going to have the highest graduation rate in four and six years than we’ve ever had, and I’ll say the same thing next year.”
Vice Chancellor for Student Life D’Andra Mull hopes these students will leave CU Boulder with great friends, a strong sense of self and an idea of what they want to do in the first part of their career.
“It’s a really amazing time to be here to witness the energy and joy students and their families have as they realize that they chose CU Boulder,” Mull said. “Now it’s our time to choose them and have a really good year.”
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