Matriculation may signify the formal start of the college years, but it’s also a milestone of achievement all its own.

Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students Leroy Wright speaks to Albion’s newest students in Goodrich Chapel during the Matriculation Ceremony.

Through their signatures, new students ceremonially enter their names into Albion College’s history.

With the Rock (in background) as an inspiration, students painted smaller rocks during their Albion-O week with words and messages that resonated with them during this brand new chapter of their lives.

Following the Matriculation Ceremony, students were asked to pick up and keep a painted rock from the Quad walkway that carried meaning for them, as a way to reinforce Albion’s vision of shared purpose and community.

Following the Matriculation Ceremony, students were asked to pick up and keep a painted rock from the Quad walkway that carried meaning for them, as a way to reinforce Albion’s vision of shared purpose and community.

Following the Matriculation Ceremony, students were asked to pick up and keep a painted rock from the Quad walkway that carried meaning for them, as a way to reinforce Albion’s vision of shared purpose and community.

Let the college years begin: years of purpose, belonging, action, courage, success and fun!

By Jake Weber

A week on campus with the new “Albion-O” orientation program finished with a flourish, as more than 480 first-year students took the student pledge August 27 during the annual Matriculation Ceremony.

In return, President Dr. Mathew Johnson also made a pledge during his remarks, on behalf of Albion College to its newest students. “We pledge to treat each of you with respect and honor the individual journeys that led you here because we know you are capable of learning anything with the right supports,” he said. “We pledge to do everything in our power to prepare you to put all that you learn here into action when you leave, to create the lives and communities of purpose and belonging you deserve.”

Fall-semester classes will begin August 30 with an approximate campus enrollment of 1,550 students. (An official number will be known by mid-September.)

Interim Chief Enrollment Management Officer Mandy Dubiel noted that although they come from 19 states and 12 countries outside the U.S., the Class of 2025 has been shaped by one universal experience.

“The admission team is excited about this class, given all of the extraordinary circumstances they have had to deal with over the last 18 months,” Dubiel said. “We are happy that they have decided to call Albion College home and look forward to all they will bring with them to enhance our community.”

Thirty-five transfer students from New York, Ohio, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Michigan join the Class of ’25 as new faces on campus. Across all four class cohorts, Albion’s domestic student population comes from 32 states.

The enrollment of more than 20 international first-year students is triple the number who have entered during each of the past two years, according to Cristen Casey, director of the College’s Center for International Education. The 49 international students on campus come from Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Haiti, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Madagascar, Mexico, Mongolia, Nigeria, Russia, Scotland and Vietnam.

“Two of them speak four languages and several play guitar—they all sing to the guitar as proven during orientation,” Casey says. “Not only is our international community growing in size, these students are talented, curious and a lot of fun. They bring rich global perspectives to our campus; we are lucky that they have chosen to call Albion home.”