William Muller ’23

News Staff

Kimball lines, once your biggest headache, will likely now take the form of a frantic search for Grubhub promo codes. That’s because this year’s first-year class is the biggest one that Holy Cross has welcomed yet, coming in at a grand total of 904 students. That’s 10% bigger than last year’s class, which makes you think: how many forced triples did they put in Brooks, Clark, and Hanselman? 

With a brand new dorm on City View street on its way, this trend of increased enrollment will likely continue. The school administration attributes the spike in class size to steadfast interest in the school from prospective students– apparently, Holy Cross is more popular than ever. Cornell B. LeSane II told the Holy Cross Newsroom that the large class size “speaks directly to the dynamic educational experience Holy Cross provides and the value families place on it,” and data from the new freshmen class shows that these students are coming from all over. Only nine students call the one-mile radius around the hill home, with the rest of the class spread out across 14 different countries in four continents. This begs the question– how many new applicants will apply for the class of 2027 after our most recent hail mary football win?

With that in mind, the new freshman class is proving to be a hopeful, though not yet complete, step towards diversifying the student body. Of the 906 students, 25% are people of color or international students (fun fact: just over 5% hold dual citizenship status). According to the Holy Cross Newsroom, these new students are also diverse in their interests, with demonstrated interests and efforts in subjects like mental health, police reform, and the Black Lives Matter Movement.

President Rougeau shared some wholesome and relatable remarks about the new students in his welcome back email: “I’ve been watching our new students traverse the brick pathways as they (eventually) find their way to Kimball.” Sure, it’s easy to complain about the long Kimball lines and off-campus mishaps that often accompany a new freshmen class, but President Rougeau reminds us how we can learn from the campus newbies: “We can look again to our first-year students for inspiration. Introduce yourself to new colleagues. Interrogate an idea from an opposing viewpoint and learn from those with whom you may disagree. Look out for one another and ask for help when you need it.”

Holy Cross is a welcoming campus, so make sure to say hello to the lone freshmen in your 200-level class and help them with their dining hall woes. Welcome, class of 2026!

Photo by Michael Ivins/Holy Cross