From dancing to gaming to green action

A storyteller featured on NPR’s The Moth podcast.

A member of the National Figure Skating team.

A multiple gold medal winner at the Tap Dance World Championships.

They are among the 637 students who have brought their passions and talents — and their footwork — to campus as members of the Clark University Class of 2027.

One first-year student is ranked in the top 4% of players in the popular video game Valorant; another is the top-ranked high school chess player in Maine. Another new Clarkie comes to the University after being named a finalist in the 2021 Project Green Challenge competition, which mobilizes high school students around climate action.

About 5% of the Class of 2027 are international students arriving at Clark from 17 countries. Incoming domestic students represent 35 states plus Puerto Rico and Washington D.C., and 36.4% identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color.

Of the new students, 22.6% are first-generation, which Clark defines as students whose parents or guardians did not complete a bachelor’s degree.

During a first-year student orientation welcome event on Thursday afternoon, President David Fithian ’87 told incoming students that they’ll meet peers from different states and countries, from urban, suburban, and rural areas, and from different cultural backgrounds. Students should be open to learning more about others, and ultimately, themselves, he said.

“You’ll most certainly encounter people who have different ideas, passions, and interests,” Fithian said. “You’ll encounter people who think differently about various subjects and who see the world from different lenses — social, political, economic, and historical, among other things. This is what an academic community is all about. It’s about the power of ideas.”

Eight percent of the class participated in the Advancing Clark Excellence (ACE) Summer Institute or Connections@Clark, pre-orientation programs from the Office of Identity, Student Engagement, and Access that provide opportunities to work with a mentor, make friends, and discover campus resources.

Additionally, 59 transfer students are joining the undergraduate student body.

Listen to a special episode of the “Challenge. Change.” podcast