August 29, 2019—This week Marist College welcomed 1,389 first-year students to its campuses.

One thousand two hundred sixty-two are residential students at the main campus in Poughkeepsie; 71 are commuters. Thirty-six students will spend their first year at the College’s campus in Florence, Italy while another 20 are in Ireland as part of the Freshman Dublin Experience, a program that debuted in 2018. Continuing a trend, the class of 2023 is diverse with 26.6 percent of the freshmen identifying as people of color.

These students hail from 32 states and nearly four percent of the class are international students from 26 countries, including: Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestinian Territory, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Singapore, Somalia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Republic of Tanzania. The class of 2023 joins a geographically diverse overall Marist student body from 47 states and 64 countries.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome the class of 2023 to Marist,” said Associate Vice President and Dean of Undergraduate Admission Kent Rinehart. “Here we have a class with deep intellectual curiosity. They have shown leadership in and outside of the classroom, and demonstrated a sincere interest in helping the community around them and the world at large.” 

The new class is academically accomplished: 25 percent were ranked in the top 10 percent of their graduating high school classes. Four were valedictorians and two were salutatorians. On average, students in this class took five Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses while in high school. Among this dynamic group are several class presidents, sports team captains, and club leaders. The class includes students who served as congressional interns, some who started their own businesses, one who competed in the world Irish Dancing Championships, and one who participated in the Junior Olympics. Notably, this class has bettered their home communities through thousands of volunteer hours. 

In addition to the freshman class, Marist also welcomed 125 new transfer students, 85 adult students, and 218 graduate students.