Welcoming All New and Returning Hawks!

This weekend, the 2024-25 academic year will kick off with the arrival (and return) of residential students to the Rockhurst University campus and new student orientation.

(Hold for applause and “Sko Hawks!” chants).

New student move-in and orientation is always an exciting time — it’s not just the start of the year, it’s also an opportunity to welcome and get to know a new group of Rockhurst University students. So, who are the newest Hawks?

Well, for one thing, they are very smart — the average GPA of just our first-time college class (the traditional freshman) is 3.62, comfortably above the national average.

What are they studying? The top major among our first-time college students is, once again, nursing, followed by exercise science (part of the accelerated tracks for our DPT and OTD degrees), business administration, the classic “still deciding,” biology and psychology.

Our newest Hawks are also quite a diverse group that includes students from approximately a dozen countries around the globe, from Congo to Mexico, and more than a dozen different states.

While the bulk of students settling in this weekend will do so on Friday, one other group — the newest members of the Hawks Scholars program — did so a week early. This cohort, made up of high-achieving students from underrepresented groups, have been taking part in an extended orientation designed to help them succeed in college. Of this most recent cohort alone, 62% are first-generation college students, 17% are international students, 45% are Pell grant eligible, 74% identify as students of color and 10% are transfer students.

Lastly, what has brought all of these new Hawks to campus? Certainly a quality Jesuit education is a big one. But the newest students are also drawn to Rockhurst for its community and its location and the opportunities they afford. Kshaun Frazier, a freshman from Chicago, Illinois, said those he met as a visitor to campus made an impression on him.

“What made me choose Rockhurst was the level of kindness that comes from each and every person on campus,” he said.

Sophia Moreira, from Olathe, Kansas, is planning to pursue both an undergraduate and graduate nursing degree. She said she is excited for opportunities on and off campus.

“I am looking forward to being in the city and having easy access to all the fun,” she said.

This weekend, the newest Hawks will get a chance to experience all that Rockhurst is about, from the 32^nd annual Finucane Service Project, where they will spend Saturday morning serving with organizations around Kansas City, to a tour of our community itself and a pep rally to cheer on the Hawks soccer team before the fall semester begins on Monday.