The University of Redlands is welcoming College of Arts and Sciences students back to the main campus for the upcoming school year. On August 29—while checking into their residence halls, meeting their roommates, and hauling their minifridges into their rooms—some first-year students took the time to answer the question, “What are you looking forward to this year?” Here are their answers.
“I'm really excited to meet new people and actually be in a classroom environment for once because I've been really missing that—I miss the culture and the nature of the classroom. I'm really looking forward to that.”
—Ashlynn Yorgesen ’25
Redlands, CA
“I'm actually really excited to start meeting a lot of new people on the Redlands campus, because my high school was kind of small and we didn't have many people. But here, it's huge, and I'm super excited to start meeting my roommate and everyone and just get to know them and make a community out of them.”
—Ryan Brown ’25
San Francisco, CA
“I think I'm most looking forward to building community with other people who live in my dorm and in my year, because the high school I went to is really community-focused. And then when coronavirus happened, that all shut down, and it was really a difficult transition online. So, I'm excited to have some really purposeful community building in this space.”
—Simone St. Pierre-Nelson ’25
Issaquah, WA
“I'm really excited to be involved in a community again. I'm very excited for certain gatherings like sports games—any sort of activities or gatherings. I’m really ready to meet new people.”
—Lucas Hill ’25
Boston, MA
“I'm excited to be at Redlands to make new connections with people, really figure out what I'm interested in, and take that time just to figure out what I want to do with my life, which is kind of a big question to ask… Kind of making up for what I missed out last year and also taking on new experiences.”
—Ava Vestergaard ’25
Portland, OR
“I'm looking forward to more activity—more interactive activity, more outdoor activity, more interaction—because I'm more of a hands-on learner. And it was kind of hard learning on the computer.”
—Taysir Asberry-Blanco ’25
Brooklyn, NY
“I think the thing I'm most excited [about] right now is just meeting new people; with COVID and the lock down, I haven't really gotten a chance to socialize how I've wanted to, so I'm really looking forward to that.”
—Miranda Benton ’25
High Desert, CA
“One thing that I'm most looking forward to is actually being able to be around people again, and not having online school. And being able to be around my teammates, which is going to be super fun. And just being able to really have that face-to-face connection with professors and other peers in my class.”
—James Boone ’25
Seattle, WA
“I'm looking forward to meeting new people and just living new experiences. You know, I've been home for like a year and a half now. And just being outside, meeting people having fun, just, living life normally is what I'm looking forward to.”
—Maryeme Idiata ’25
Paris, France
“I'm looking forward to all the new experiences I'm going to have here. It's a very different environment from where I'm from. But the community seems awesome, and I'm really looking forward to meeting all these new people in this new place.”
—Jeremy Masson ’25
Silver Spring, MD
“Honestly, just interacting with more people because I was stuck in the house with just my family—interacting and sports like a normal person.”
—Gizelle Leyva ’25
Los Angeles, CA
“I'm really excited to meet new friends and start this new journey here at Redlands.”
—Megan Kaiser ’25
Yorba Linda, CA
After move-in, Bulldogs were greeted with a variety of activities.
Learn more about the College of Arts and Sciences.
