RIT move-in day a rite of passage for students, parents

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Thousands of freshman and transfer students are now calling the Rochester Institute of Technology “home.”

The first-year class of Tigers includes 3,300 students from 48 states and 47 countries. The college says this is the one of the most academically prepared classes the school has seen, with an average high school GPA of 93.

Abby Seplicki from Buffalo says the first time she stepped on campus, she fell in love with RIT. She is majoring in new media design.

“I’m just kind of excited to try new things, do all the stuff that I’m really into and really like. I love my art stuff so I’m excited to actually just get to focus on that,” she said.

Izzy Fortunato also moved in Monday. The Rockport, Mass. native is majoring in environmental science.

Her whole family came to help her move in, bringing their van and a U-Haul.

“I’m most excited to start classes actually ’cause they have a really good program for what I’m doing,” she said.

Student volunteers were out there today directing traffic and helping to move in fellow students. RIT also had carts for families to use to lug everything to the dorms.

“We have so many different areas that all come together to make it work,” said Kory Samuels, associate vice president of auxiliary services. “So we have a little orange army, so to speak, of Tigers.”

Classed don’t start for another week.

“What they have to look forward to is fun – point blank, period. This is your time to get settled into your rooms, go to events, meet new people,” Samuels said. “That includes staff and faculty. Get acclimated before you jump into classes. So it’s all about fun, unstructured, having a good time.”

RIT also says there are 11 Fulbright scholars enrolling this year and 112 new Ph.D. students, up 19 from a year ago.

The State University of New York at Brockport, Monroe Community College, Nazareth University, St. John Fisher University, and the University of Rochester all start classes in the next week or two.