Newest Toreros Ready to Make Their Mark

“Here we are. This is it. It is at this second that your academic journey begins.” 

The dynamic statement echoes inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion as all first-year and transfer students — roughly 1,600 of them — listen with their peers as College of Arts and Sciences Dean Noelle Norton, PhD, marks the official beginning of the 2023-24 academic school year at the University of San Diego. 

It’s Tuesday morning following Olé Weekend and the newest cohort of Toreros are gathered together for New Student Convocation, an annual gathering intended to launch the latest academic class on their new journey. They sit among their roommates, new friends and academic advisors, outfitted in t-shirts that identify their specific Living Learning Community (LLC).

“Convocation marks the beginning of your academic life and your first step toward falling in love with learning and discovery,” Norton says. 

The presence of so many administrators, faculty and staff at the event shows how fully committed USD is toward the academic success of every student, USD Vice Provost Robert Pace, PhD, tells the cohort.   

“We have been waiting patiently for each of you by creating new courses, renovating classrooms and studying new teaching approaches. We ALL want you to succeed,” he says.

The incoming class is one of USD’s largest, most academically-talented and diverse classes in university history. For the eighth consecutive year, the class will have a higher percentage of students of color than the previous class — more than half of the class identifies as a student of color, with more than 27 percent identifying as Hispanic. 

The class’ average grade point average is 4.1. More than one-fifth of the class are first-generation college students and nearly 30 percent are bilingual.

The newest class is also geographically diverse, coming to San Diego from 43 US states, 25 countries and three US territories. 

“Every fall, our campus awakens as a diverse array of students from all over the world embark on a fresh academic journey here at the University of San Diego,” says USD President James T. Harris III, DEd. “I am excited to welcome our new class of Changemakers who embody our vision, mission and values and make USD such an exemplary university.”

It was a whirlwind Olé Weekend for the Class of 2027. USD’s annual orientation weekend for new students included move-in, the President’s Welcome, Mass of Welcome, Neon Night and Torero Evening in the Park. By the end of the weekend, each student has established their new home and their new community. They have also run the gamut of emotions as they say goodbye to their families and welcome in their new USD family. 

“I feel like having a community away from your actual community at home is important because now you know there are other people you can trust while on campus,” says first-year student Anthony Famoyin. “It’s important to have another community where you are learning to become better in life and having people you can go to when things get hard. You build another home while you are at school.” 

Sitting together at convocation, the students look exhausted, and rightfully so — it’s been a memorable few days. But they also carry that new-found confidence that typically replaces the jangled nerves that accompany any novel experience. 

They officially belong, and are ready to embark on this new chapter together. 

The word ‘welcome’ has been in constant rotation during the last 72 hours, Norton acknowledges to the young scholars. But the one they are currently receiving at convocation is different, she stresses. 

“It is the last before you embark on your intellectual and creative experiential adventure here at USD,” she says. “It is the first welcome you have had without your parents beside you. It is where you first sit with your faculty and your scholastic advisors and it’s where you can see your entire learning community as a whole — a community you will explore facts with, concepts, ideas and everything that you are going to study this year.

— Story by Matthew Piechalak, Video by Alé Delgado, Photos by Barbara Ferguson, Alé Delgado, Kelsey Grey, Matthew Piechalak