Our Students Have Arrived.

The classrooms are full—and the round-the-clock conversations have begun.

Organizers of The Austin Beacon, an independent student publication, meet in the campus atrium. 

Our new freshmen walked onto campus yesterday at 8:30 a.m. for their first classes at the University of Austin, just a few days after participating in the first Convocation and Orientation in UATX history.

During Orientation, our students forged bonds they’ll build on in the seminar rooms and beyond.

They explored the city, met some of UATX’s greatest supporters, engaged with entrepreneurs and mentors, danced the Texas Two Step, and learned how to read a great book like a love letter.

Here’s what they’ve been saying:

And there’s more. Take a closer look at the two days that bookended the week:

On Sunday, Sept. 1, our students moved from their homes throughout the country into their new dorms.

Associate Director of Student Recruitment Brynn Sandquist (center) greets a parent.

Freshman Merrick admires the view from his room.

Freshman Margaux (right) arrives at the dorm.

It was freshman Margaux’s first day in Texas after moving to Austin from Alexandria, Virginia.

She had been traveling in Central America on a gap year after high school when she heard about the University of Austin.

“I wasn’t really looking to go to university, but this seemed like a new opportunity that I was curious about,” she said. “It was the only university I applied to.”

Freshman Max participates in an exercise on move-in weekend.

Freshman Maksim (“Max”) was born in Minsk, Belarus, and moved from just across town.

“For me, being a member of a founding freshman class means taking on the unique responsibility of shaping the identity of a new institution,” he said. “It's an opportunity to create a lasting legacy and set the tone for future generations.”

We wrapped up the week on the night of Friday, September 6, with a formal dinner in the atrium of our Scarbrough campus.

David (right) approaches Dean of Arts and Letters Patrick Gray.

Students thank Executive Director of Admissions Stephen Asoli.

Charis lifts a glass to her fellow founding freshmen.

Staff, faculty, and students raised our glasses of sparkling cider to promises fulfilled and traditions just forming.

“This week, your quest has begun,” President Pano Kanelos told the students at the evening’s end.

He continued:

You have already begun wrestling with the questions that will animate your next four years. You have already started forming the friendships and relationships that will sustain you during this time and lift you up for the rest of your life.

You have already moved—even if you have not quite noticed—from being a young person to taking on the mantle of adulthood.

With this mantle comes great responsibility. You bear the charge of your own future. You are also accountable for the impact you will have on countless lives that will intersect with your own.

Orient yourself towards what is good, what is true, and what is beautiful, and you will live as fully as it is possible to live.

Our university is here to inspire you to press on towards what is highest.

So let us toast to it.

To the University of Austin!

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See you next Monday!

Maggie Kelly is the editor of Inside UATX. Follow her on X @margaretbkelly.