“This year is special because it’s almost like we get two for the price of one,” said Kelli Kerbawy, assistant dean in the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment who keeps a stash of Japanese maple-flavored chocolate in her office for visitors. “You have the excitement of all the freshmen students coming to campus for the first time, and also the enthusiasm of upperclassmen who missed out on in-person classes last year due to the pandemic. This is my 14th or 15th year in higher education, welcoming students back to campus, and it is still so much fun.”

Her best advice for the new year, Kerbawy added, is to relax, take it all in and — above all — ask for help when you need it, because there is “always someone around to answer questions.”

Or, in some instances, three someones. This was the case at a blue-and-gold folding table set up on The Green, where a group of upperclassmen welcome ambassadors volunteered their time to direct befuddled newcomers on campus — and supply them with free swag, including maps, healthy snacks and sanitation bags complete with COVID-19 masks.

“These volunteers really helped me when I was a new commuter student on campus,” said ambassador Suzan Zien, a molecular biology major from Bear, Delaware. “So it is important for me to give back.”

Tucker Smith, a junior studying biomedical engineering, echoed this sentiment, citing the fulfillment he feels living out the Blue Hen value of service. And, since he did not technically have to be on campus to attend class until later, this work also afforded him an opportunity to be immersed in the vibrant, lively mood of a first-day morning, which he described as “awesome… I feel like a freshman again.”

The vibe was so cheery that criminal justice major Emma Mather appeared giddy outside of Memorial Hall even as she discussed her rather mundane plan for the afternoon: laundry. Or, rather, Facetiming her mother for advice on how to work her residence hall washing machine. Her happiness stemmed partly, she said, from a successful first class earlier in the day, where a “very nice” professor had handed out Oreos and Fig Newtons. In this seminar, Mather was even able to make a new friend, fellow first-year student Dana Vilardi, who is equally excited about one of the many study abroad opportunities offered at UD.

“We just met, started talking and here we are,” Vilardi said. “We have already made plans to go to the gym later.”

For sophomore nursing students walking out of their first pathological foundations course, the upcoming year promises more hands-on learning and in-person meetings of the Student Nurses Organization. This is just one of the involvement opportunities that drew Hannah Weaver, the daughter of two Blue Hen alumni, to campus.

“UD is the only school I applied to,” she said. “I didn’t want to go anywhere else.”

Her advice to others for getting past the nerves and making the most of one’s time on campus — or, really, anywhere — is perhaps the most important lesson a Blue Hen can take home on the first day of school.

“Be present and enjoy the moment.” she said. “Just be yourself.”