Three shirts and two hairstyles later, I found the one.
I’d been tearing my closet apart for the last half hour trying to find the perfect outfit — a tank top and jeans. I was both sweating from moving so much in my humid Towers dorm room and beaming with excitement. Along with hundreds of other students, both new and seasoned, I was headed to SUBOG’s semester kickoff block party. My new friend I’d met in the dining hall hours prior was waiting for me outside. My mentor — who was paired with me through the Puerto Rican and Latin American Cultural Center — would be waiting for us to share all her senior wisdom before we set off to wander around campus.
It was time for my first night out in college. Hundreds of students crowded Fairfield Way as music blared and the light summer breeze carried the smell of food. Friends screamed as they reconnected post–summer break. Timid first-years lined up for UConn freebies — plastic cups, stress balls, and retro logo T-shirts — to rep their new school. New and old Huskies were thrilled to be home.
Looking back, that night gave me a taste of what was to come in the next four years: friendships I’d cherish for the rest of my life, endless sweating as I trekked across campus, spontaneous nights that started with one plan and ended with something completely different — and an unforgettable sense of community. My introductory year was a bundle of firsts, many I never even imagined doing: first football game, first march, first Involvement Fair, first Homecoming lip sync, first Huskython, and so much more.
This was not uncommon for first-years excited to take in all the campus had to offer. But it all changed for the Class of 2024. A global pandemic and health safety restrictions would completely alter that week, that year, that college experience, for 3,825 first-year students enrolled at Storrs. With campus at only 40% capacity, Welcome Weekend events shifted online. Floor meetings turned into group chats. Hitting the dining hall the next morning to catch up after a night out turned into grab-and-go with social distancing.
Four years ago, our cover story highlighted 10 students who’d written 10 of the best admissions essays among the incoming Class of 2024 — students who at the time of writing those essays had no idea what the future would hold but were hungry to experience everything UConn had to offer. Four years on, we sought them out again. Had they physically come to campus that first year, had they graduated, what of the years in between? How had an unprecedented world event changed their expectations and their reality?
As I spoke with many of them at length, I was surprised and equally inspired. Being the first class to navigate a global pandemic and all the complexities of starting college, they had no one to guide them. But when the world as we knew it stopped, they found alternatives. Can’t go to the gym? They walked every inch of campus possible. Can’t make friends traditionally? They texted group chats and hoped someone would show up. Can’t study abroad? They took advantage of alternative breaks and research trips. While they all agreed that their first year was far from what they had seen on social media or TV, it came with invaluable lessons. While others may have felt the pressure of college the second they set foot on campus, this class eased into it at their own pace.
And when it came time to shine, they hit the ground running. They jumped on employment opportunities, academic projects, internships, and more because if they had learned one thing it was this: Live in the now because nothing in life is promised.
