Clad in red shirts, first-years and transfer students packed the seats at the Kohl Center Tuesday to hear the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and other speakers welcome the university’s 176th class.
Provost Marshall Charles Lee Isbell, Jr. opened convocation by welcoming new students — 8,500 freshmen and 1,500 transfer students — urging them to seek out “intellectual challenge at the university.”
“You are now part of a long tradition that we call sifting and winnowing,” Isbell said. “That’s an agricultural metaphor we’ve used for over a century to describe scholarly inquiry that pushes boundaries and leads to new insights and discoveries.”
Other speakers challenged attendees to make new connections and step outside of their comfort zone.
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Lori Reesor introduced the student affairs theme of “Friendship IRL.” The class of 2028 is the first to have entered high school during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Reesor voiced the importance of connection through an anecdote about a sophomore’s experience with social anxiety.
“Social media and uncertainty on many levels have shaped the ways we interact with each other, yet feeling connected helps us in so many ways,” Reesor said.
While trying new things may be awkward at times, students should learn to find comfort in their identity, “awkwardness and all,” she said. She ended her speech by encouraging new students to push past their apprehension to seek out new opportunities and meet new people.
Convocation comes two months before Election Day, where the majority of new students will be voting for the first time. Amanjot Kour, a senior studying political science and legal studies, spoke to the class of 2028’s situation in her speech about her experience coming to UW-Madison during the 2022 midterms.
“I was really worried that UW wouldn’t turn out to vote,” Kour said. “I quickly learned that UW is a perfect environment for turning our fears into catalysts for purposeful action.”
Kour earned a standing ovation from the crowd as she encouraged new students to register to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Mnookin spoke last, opening her speech by praising the achievements of the incoming class.
“You’re an exceptional group with a plurality of talents, a truly dizzying and impressive range of backgrounds and experiences that you bring here to UW-Madison,” Mnookin said.
In particular, she noted the accomplishments of three students: Angeline Morgado, a freshman who represented Chile at the international UNESCO Youth Forum, Jaden Eikermann Gergorchuk, a freshman who competed in the men’s diving competition during the Summer 2024 Olympics and Steven Dawson, the 2024-2025 Madison Youth Poet Laureate.
Later in her speech, Mnookin revisited the theme of plurality as a mechanism for growth. She emphasized the importance of identity and urged new students to consider different ideas and opinions.
“It’s equally important to disagree with respect for our common humanity,” Mnookin said. “If you can start out with curiosity rather than condemnation and generosity before judgment, you will help us create the community we all wish us to be.”
Mnookin closed out Convocation by inviting the new students to sing “Varsity” and enjoy a pint of free Babcock ice cream at Memorial Union Students also received a free copy of the 2024-2025 Go Big Read book, “Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body,” by Rebekah Taussig, along with a free poster of the human ‘W’ they made together at Camp Randall.
