Why I’m looking forward to the start of school

The start of fall semester is always exciting for me, reuniting with returning students and meeting new ones. This fall will be especially significant because I will be retiring in June.  After 45 terrific years at Lafayette, I look forward to traveling and exploring new activities. Though I will surely miss my wonderful students. I can’t wait to welcome members of the Lafayette Percussion Ensemble on August 30 and to rehearse for our November 6 concert!
—Larry Stockton, professor and head of music, director of Percussion Ensemble

Besides watching our gorgeous campus turn golden in the fall, I’m looking forward to focusing my time on some live theatrical events through College Theater, Alpha Psi Omega, and Marquis Players. My honors thesis production of Shakespeare’s R&J premieres Homecoming weekend, and I couldn’t be more excited to share interesting and compelling stories with the Lafayette and Easton communities.
—Lizzie Gumula ’22

I simply cannot wait to see my best friends again, to eat dinner with them every day, and to always be within a five-minute walking distance of them. Knowing that this is the last year in my life where the circumstances will allow me to literally live with my best friends frightens me, so I plan to make the most of my senior year with my absolute favorite people! I’m also mostly excited to be working on my thesis. I have always thrown myself into work across campus, so to finally focus on academic work that I’m passionate about is extremely meaningful to me.
—Lauren Ameruoso ’22

I am most looking forward to being back on campus because a college campus is such a unique place. Most countries do not have the type of campus life we have in the United States, and the ability to physically exist within that unique atmosphere is, in a lot of ways, exhilarating. There are so many interesting people, events, and opportunities to learn that are extremely difficult to replicate in an online environment. I am excited to be back. I am also looking forward to the return of travel so we can return to normal study abroad participation!
—Daniel Kampsen, assistant director of international and off-campus education

I’m really looking forward to a larger sense of community once we are back. One thing that drew me to Lafayette was the amazing sense of community among students and faculty. The pandemic made it harder to feel as connected with my classmates and peers as I did when we were in person, so I am definitely looking forward to seeing students back on campus and making new connections. It is such a warm and welcoming community, and I am so proud to be a part of it! I’m also really looking forward to holding in-person concerts for percussion as well as Cadence a cappella. Additionally, I am very excited to have more in-person events for Refugee Action.
—Anna Boggess ’23

There are so many things I’m looking forward to this year. I’m excited to have in-person classes again, have club meetings in person without capacity restrictions, and I also can’t wait to have more campus-wide events like Lafchella at the end of last spring! But what I’m truly looking forward to the most is just being able to see everyone again. Even though many of us were on campus last semester, there were so many restrictions on what we were able to safely do that it was really hard to spend quality time with everyone I wanted to, and it was difficult to meet anyone new. There are so many students who are now rising sophomores whom I feel like I’ve barely met yet and whom I’d love to meet and get to know. I also look forward to being a part of the steel bridge team; senior civil engineers can sign up to compete in a national steel bridge competition where we get to design, weld, and build a mini bridge. I can’t wait to see my classmates and get back in the welding shop! I’m also on the board of our salsa dance club, and I’m so excited to have classes again in person, hopefully at full capacity, and do some partner work dancing again. I look forward to ushering for more in-person performances at our theaters on campus. Lastly, I’m also looking forward to hopefully doing the winter interim abroad.
—Jessica Landry ’22