Entering through blue and yellow balloon arches this fall, Beloit College welcomed 300 new students, both freshman and transfers. It was the largest group of new students since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here’s what students said topped the schedule when it came to making the first week welcoming. (Hint: it was NOT fighting bees for cinnamon rolls.)

• Res Life Traveling Carnival: “Especially the quiet activities like henna.”
• Field Day: “It has a special place in my heart. Competition gets people out of their shells.”
• Time spent with Orientation Leaders. “They were encouraging. OLs tried really hard to get us involved.”

These highlights, and many more small but important actions, made the difference when helping new students try new things. International students networked, exchanging writing and travel tips. Parents noted new opportunities, scrolling through phones and filling their pockets with important information and Beloit pins. And of course, the food. As one parent said, “That’s how you start with a free taco.”

Inspired by Katy Perry’s “Firework” or Frank Hooton’s convocation speech, with a little bit of everything so everyone could have something, new connections were sparked – by family, by residence hall assignment, by first steps and next steps, by knowing exactly what you want to do and by not knowing.

If you need a refresher on the infectious nature of connection, just follow the football team. Starting from first-year move-in day, to the ticket line at the Sky Carp baseball game, and finally to convocation, staff, students, and parents noticed how the team embodied the feeling of connection that could be found everywhere, whether you showed up as one of a team or a team of one.

“It’s about the care of the individual,” said Karen H. Schedin, Vice President for Enrollment Management. “We don’t just see it as an incoming class. Dreams. Plans. Hopes. We want to meet their expectations. Deliver on their dream…They might not know it when they see it, but they know it when they feel it.”

From the first campus visit to enrollment, convocation to commencement, starting the academic year is a process built around relationships. Belonging is, too. By the time the first day of classes ended in a shady picnic spot surrounded by faculty and their families, even the weather seemed to understand that at Beloit College, it matters how you treat people.