On Thursday August 24, Saint Anselm College eagerly welcomed the class of 2027 to campus.
During the morning and mid-day hours, student-athletes, resident assistants, orientation leaders, transition program mentors, faculty, staff, and monks helped move the newest Anselmians into their residence halls.
Throughout the day, parents and families of new students cheered “This is awesome!” while watching their children being moved into their new home.
“I thought I would have been overwhelmed going into this, but the transition here has been so good," said Karra Zajac, whose daughter Megan Zajac ‘27, a nursing student, moved into Joan of Arc Hall.
Seventy orientation leaders, 53 resident assistants, and over 300 student-athletes supported the move-in.
“The athletics staff, coaches and student-athletes are always eager to help the College in any way possible,” said Vice President of Athletics Daron Montgomery. “We always look forward to welcoming first-year students to the Hilltop and greeting their families at move-in. It is a highlight of the year for sure.”
Boxes, bags, bins, plastic containers, clothes on hangers, pillows, and refrigerators were just some of the items carried into JOA, Baroody Hall, Dominic Hall, Second and Third Streets in Alumni Hall, and the Living and Learning Commons (LLC). Five hundred and fifty-three members of the class of 2026 will reside on campus.
- 429 students moved onto campus on Thursday
- 27 transfer students moved onto campus
- Roughly 130 first-year or transfer students move in prior to Thursday for fall athletics, Transitions, or the RA2B program
Students and families spent the morning settling into their new digs, finalizing paperwork, checking out the bookstore, and finalizing any last-minute items.
Mid-morning, new commuter students met in the Center for Intercultural Learning and Inclusion in the Jean Student Center getting to know one-another, touring the space, and learning about resources available to them.
The afternoon included lunch in Davison followed by the New Student and Family Mass in the Abbey Church where Fr. Francis McCarty ’10, O.S.B., gave the homily.
Finally, at the end of the day, College President Joseph A. Favazza, Ph.D., welcomed students, and their families to campus. “I also hope that the chapter you begin today at Saint Anselm College will be one of your favorites,” said Dr. Favazza.
“If ever there was a day for new opportunity, it is today. Students, you begin a new chapter of your story today right here on this Hilltop. You have written other chapters that have brought your story to this moment: chapters about the unconditional love of your family and friends, about love of learning and experiencing new things, about serving others in your community, about faith in God and at the same time perhaps questioning your faith, and about mistakes you made and learned from,” said Favazza.
The president later reassured the new class. “You have a cast of characters ready to help create this chapter, from new classmates, to student, faculty and staff mentors you have just met or yet to meet, to members of the monastic community who you never thought could become so important to your story.”
The new student orientation chairs, Maddie Friedman ‘24, and Jackie Labovitz ‘24, also welcomed students and their families with words of encouragement. “Some of you may be excited and ready to begin this new chapter while others may be feeling more anxious and hesitant. Allow yourself to feel those feelings and trust that in these next few days, you will experience first hand the love and support of our Anselmian community.”
“The heart of Saint Anselm College is unlike any college or university. Nowhere else will you find faculty, and staff that not only want to learn your name but also want to learn your story, your goals, and how they can best support you in your individual journey. Nowhere else will you find kinder students with such a willingness to serve our campus and the Greater Manchester community with such passion and diligence,” they said.
The spirit felt here on the Hilltop is certainly undeniable. It is the collection of every door held, every friendly smile, and every tradition fulfilled. Our community’s power is fueled by valuing and nurturing the small things. It takes all of us to cultivate the magic here and that now includes each and every one of you.”
And with that, both first-year and transfer students hugged their families goodbye to officially begin their college journey. Throughout orientation the next few days, new students will get to know each other and campus, before the school year begins on Monday, August 28.
Orientation weekend consists of the Brian Maguire Day of Service, a BBQ, pep rally and women’s soccer game, sessions on academics, being Anselmian, and building an inclusive community, fun nightly programs, and finally, the annual first-year banquet where students watch as their banner raised to the ceiling of Davison Dining Hall for the first time.
It is again my pleasure to welcome you all here to the Saint Anselm Abbey Church. This church is the heart of our campus, and it is a reminder that who we are, everything we do, and everything we have here at Saint Anselm College is because of blessings that God has bestowed upon us. This heart of our campus has seen countless numbers of moments of private prayer, larger college celebrations like this one, weddings, funerals, and monastic professions and ordinations. During the pandemic, despite all the radical changes in our world, we monks continued our lives of work and prayer by continuing to gather multiple time a day to pray as a community behind me in these choir stalls even though these large doors were locked to the outside world. An alumnus asked me a few months into the lockdown how we were doing, and I just replied, “The heart keeps beating.”
In just a few weeks during your Conversatio class, Father Mathias will give you a very detailed tour of this Church but this afternoon I would like to point out one important feature which provides an important lesson for you, members of the Class of 2027, as today you begin your Anselmian journey. Take a look at the stained glass that is all around you. It shouldn’t be hard, there’s over 4,500 square feet of it. You may have already noticed that the stained glass inthis church is one of its most impressive features. All around you there are thousands of pieces of individual glass made up of all different shapes, sizes, and 300 different shades of color that all come together to form a beautiful symphony of glass. However, no matter their shape, size or color every single piece is vitally important. Without just one piece, the whole masterpiece would be incomplete, not to mention it would be very cold in here in the winter.
Dear friends, our Saint Anselm College community is like one of these big stained-glass windows. And dear members of the Class of 2027, we are so excited for you to finally be here because we need your help. The Saint Anselm stained-glass window is incomplete. We need your piece to be a part of it, no matter its shape, size or color. Over the next few years, each one of you will contribute to the magnum opus that is the Saint Anselm story. Because regardless of the size, shape, or color of your piece of stained glass, every single one has something in common…light shines through it. And that light is everything that is true, good, and beautiful.That is because the light that shines through you is the divine light that emanates from God. Thetask of our community over the next few years is to help you explore how that light can best refract through you and out into the world. You even may find that over the next few years, your piece of stained-glass will take on a distinct hue called PMS 289, more commonly called here…Anselmian blue. It is our hope that one day all corners of the globe will be filled with Anselmian Blue light.
So, you may be asking yourself what is the best way for me to find where I fit, to find where I will shine brightest? Well, take a lesson from the saint we honor today, Saint Bartholomew the Apostle. In our Gospel this afternoon we heard about Bartholomew, who is also known as Nathanael. The Apostle Philip invites him to an encounter with Jesus. Initially, Bartholomew scoffs at the invitation, but Philip persists and says, “Come and see.” Dear first-year students, allow me to introduce you to the first of many Philips you will meet over the next few weeks, they are sitting here in front of me wearing lovely purple shirts, your Orientation Leaders.
Heed their invitation, begin to explore Saint Anselm College’s endless possibilities for you to grow and develop into exactly who God has created you to be. We are so excited to experience the light you bring to the Saint Anselm story. So use these next few years to polish your piece of stained glass because your part in lighting up the world in Anselmian Blue begins today.
About the Class of 2027
With 580 first-year students, the class of 2027 is academically the strongest incoming class on record with an average high school GPA of 3.44.
- 40 transfer students are beginning their journey at Saint Anselm this year.
- 52 students have had at least one parent also attend Saint Anselm.
- Students come from 20 states and four countries.
- 109 students are first-generation college students.
The most popular majors are:
The most popular names among our incoming students are Emma, Sarah, Ava, Matthew, John, and Ryan.
This class, as a whole, is outstanding, but some folks really stood out during the application process. The two themes of entrepreneurship and ambition set the stage as we welcome students this fall who own clothing businesses and have founded podcasts; the class even includes a producer who has leased a beat to an artist with over a million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Additionally, the class includes a student who competed with the United States National Karate Team in 2022, a gold medalist in Australian Youth Volleyball, and athletes who have received recognition here in New Hampshire for basketball and equestrian skills.