‘The Energy is Unmatched’: Pomona College Welcomes Class of 2029 on Move-In Day

Leslie Fields and Sven Aas, from Massachusetts, dropped their youngest son, Christopher, off outside Mudd-Blaisdell Hall bright and early Saturday and found the pomp and circumstance of Move-In Day especially warm and welcoming.

“It’s all been really amazing,” Fields said. “We’re happy to be here.”

Bailey Williams ’26, a computer science and politics double major from Dallas, Texas, was among the cohort of residential advisors outside Lyon Court offloading suitcases, appliances and furniture by the trunkload.

“The energy is unmatched,” he said. “Everyone’s excited to see the new class.”

After oscillating between anxiety and excitement the past two weeks, MaKiyah Turner-Hicks ’29 said she began the morning more nervous than anything.

“The quantity of new people I’ll meet is one of the things I’m most nervous about,” the New Jersey native said while she and her family unpacked. “But everyone was approachable and nice. It was good to, for the moment, dispel that anxiety right at the outset.”

With most new students moved in by noon, families shared a meal at Frank Dining Hall before students met with members of the Orientation Team, their resident advisors or their sponsors to make first connections with the Pomona community.

The Class of 2029 took a group photo on the steps of Carnegie Hall in the afternoon, then did the traditional Through the Gates walk with President G. Gabrielle Starr.

Starr, who returned to her post last month after a spring sabbatical, addressed the entire first-year class later in the evening at the Center for Athletics, Recreation and Wellness (CARW). A Boba Break at Harwood Pergola was scheduled to cap off the day.

“I’m going to be looking for you all as I walk around campus,” Starr told those inside the CARW. “And if I see you and you don’t look OK, I’m not going to look away. So this strange lady will come up to you and say, ‘What’s wrong?’ and you can tell me.”

“I promise to be there for you,” Starr added, “and I want you to promise to be there for each other. We’re a Sagehen flock and we stick together.”

Ahead of Move-In Day, Pomona welcomed to campus 48 visa-holding international students representing 23 countries. They were joined by 12 non-visa holding students with international experiences.

In total, 423 first-year students and 30 transfer students are joining Pomona this fall.

“The Admissions team has every intention of getting a student body that represents what you see in the real world,” Williams, the residential advisor, said Saturday. “You have people coming from not only different states, but so many different countries, making friendships that’ll last forever.”

For Williams, the hustle and bustle of Move-In Day rekindled fond memories of his first days at Pomona.

“My advice to new students is to take your time,” he said. “We move faster than you think here. There’s a lot of things to get into, and you’ll find yourself and your place at Pomona eventually, that’s the nature of the school.”

“So take your time and take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way.”