UMSL Daily caught up with eight members of this fall’s incoming freshman class during a recent New Student Orientation day. Additional orientation sessions for both new and transfer students continue throughout the summer. (Photos by Evie Hemphill)

A crowd of soon-to-be college students descended last week on the University of Missouri–St. Louis, eager to get a jump on the fall 2017 semester.

Hailing from places as far away as Duluth, Minnesota, and as close by as Normandy, Missouri, the newcomers were midway through a busy orientation day June 6 when several of them connected with UMSL Daily.

Lindsay Salassi

Each new Triton shared a bit about their plans, background and what they’re most looking forward to as college looms.

Lindsay Salassi is from New Orleans – a city she said has some similar vibes to St. Louis. First introduced to the Gateway City by her boyfriend’s family, which is based here, Salassi grew to really like the region during recent visits.

She’s excited to explore it further as she starts her college career at UMSL this fall and begins living on campus. She added that she’s also really eager to start taking classes, with an eye toward majoring in physics or possibly chemistry.

Kevin Hall

The chance to talk with individual Orientation Leaders, all of whom are current students at UMSL, was her favorite part of orientation.

“Having lunch with them and talking to them has been really meaningful, just to get their perspective on everything and ask some of the smaller questions you have,” Salassi said.

St. Louis native Kevin Hall plans to earn his UMSL degree in information systems.

He said he chose UMSL because of the scholarship support available and is most excited “about making new connections” as his undergraduate experience gets underway.

Branden Beauchamp

Branden Beauchamp hails from Troy, Missouri, a place that’s just about an hour northwest of UMSL. As he pursues a pre-med track with plans to become a chiropractor, he’ll be living in the St. Louis area, which will be new for him.

“I’m looking forward to meeting new people and just being away from home,” Beauchamp said. “It’s going to be good.”

He added that he “really liked the food” and was pleased with the Nosh’s selection during lunch at orientation.

Drew Sullivan

Fellow Troy resident Drew Sullivan will be joining the UMSL community this fall as well.

Months ago, he and Beauchamp just happened to visit campus for the first time on the same day and take the same campus tour, and the two acquaintances both ended up choosing UMSL.

Sullivan is weighing a major in either psychology or chemistry – and is also intent on minoring in Spanish. He said he’s excited about making use of the Recreation and Wellness Center, meeting people and also studying abroad – possibly somewhere in Europe.

Tori Foster

Sullivan shared Beauchamp’s enthusiasm for the food and said he also enjoyed the morning activities in breakout sessions that “got the blood flowing.”

Normandy High School graduate Tori Foster will be majoring in communication, with a minor in English.

She and her classmate Lauren Bowers, who is pursuing criminology and political science, were more familiar with the UMSL campus than some others in attendance at the orientation day thanks to their participation in the Bridge Program during their high school years.

Lauren Bowers

“That’s why we’re not going on the tour,” Bowers explained with a smile.

A precollegiate program for St. Louis youth and their parents, Bridge provides exemplary college-access services on campus, and both Bowers and Foster spoke highly of their experience.

Bowers, who has set a personal goal of maintaining a 4.0 GPA at UMSL, added that the affordability of the university was a deciding factor for her as she weighed her undergraduate options.

“At UMSL you can live on campus but at a more affordable price,” she said.

Greg Markley

That affordability also stood out to Greg Markley, who is from Wildwood, Missouri. Headed into civil engineering, Markley said he chose UMSL both for its proximity to home and its affordability – “especially for an engineering degree.”

He’s also looking forward to living on campus and getting the traditional college experience.

“It’ll be nice to be surrounded by my peers all the time,” he said as his mom, who attended the parent and family portion of orientation, sat nearby. (She laughed at his statement and didn’t appear to take offense.)

Dylan Archambeau

Markley noted that he was glad to have met a lot of “helpful people” over the course of orientation – and he’s also become more familiar with campus over the past year while taking cello lessons from one of UMSL’s music department faculty members.

Dylan Archambeau, who is from Duluth, Minnesota, traveled about 10 hours to orientation last week. He and his dad made a week of it, enjoying several days in St. Louis along with orientation itself.

Archambeau said he first heard about UMSL at a college fair in his home state. When he later traveled to St. Louis to take part in a robotics competition, he took a closer look at the university and was pleased with what he saw. He’ll be majoring in business administration and likely minoring in computer science.

He said he’s especially looking forward to an approach to education that will be different from his high school experience.

For more information on upcoming orientation sessions and other New Student Programs efforts, click here.