Monday kicked off the fall 2024 semester with new classes, new walking paths and new students. 

The first day of classes on Aug. 26 went smoothly for the most part, according to junior Fredey Lord and freshman Kylie Seiberling.

“​​Mine was pretty easy, breezy, beautiful CoverGirl,” Lord said. 

Though Lord had classes later that day and lectures to listen to, she said so far it was “pretty simple.” 

Giving Seiberling some relief and confidence in the semester is her “better headspace and work ethic” she has acquired this year. Seiberling said she started her first semester of freshman year last spring and struggled to get the hang of college. 

“That (was) really applied today, and I felt the difference in class,” Seiberling said. 

Professors this year are “strict” on their attendance policies, and students will not pass the class without being in attendance, according to Seiberling. 

A potential difficulty in addition to the attendance policies, according to Lord, is the various construction projects around campus. 

“The construction was so bad,” Lord said. “Last year, it was right in front of Funkhouser, and now it’s right next to Kastle. I feel like it just keeps shifting, and I don’t know where I’m going. I have to map out all my classes days before, because the construction’s so bad.”

Seiberling also faced difficulties navigating buildings on campus. 

“I had to walk around campus yesterday (to) get the feel before, because I was worried about all the new construction and White Hall’s not open this year, where a ton of main classes were, so I’m going to totally different buildings I’ve never been in,” Seiberling said. 

Lord’s neuroscience and biomedical engineering classes were spread out across campus instead of being held close to one another as they were in years past. 

“It definitely was a lot better last year. Everything felt so much closer. Now, I only have to go to four different buildings, but it feels like with all the construction and the fact that there’s so much more foot traffic this year, I can’t get to where I need to go because I’m stuck behind something,” Lord said. 

A positive to Lord’s day was her junior year starting off without focusing on the syllabus. As she’s progressed in her college career, she noticed this year that her classes “hit the ground running” on the first day. 

“Because I’m a junior, I very much like the fact that we hit the ground running,” she said. “I already have classwork and stuff. Because for me, I feel like I spend so much time prepping to get to school, and then I’m spending that first week with the school not doing anything. I feel like my time is wasted. So for me, like, I’m actually really happy to hit the ground running.”

Tyler Grace, a freshman studying human health sciences, said he did not have any difficulties getting around campus. 

“They always talk about college classes being super hard and intense, but it’s just the first day. We’re going over the syllabus, nothing scary,” he said. 

Grace said he enjoyed getting to meet new people throughout the day, and was excited for the rest of the year at the end of his first day. 

“I stress out if I don’t know what’s going on, but they lined up almost the rest of the complete semester on the first day,” he said. “So, it gives me a little bit of more reassurance.” 

With the first day of classes in the books, the fall semester is now in full swing.