LWC Welcomes Brightest Freshman Class in College History

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Freshmen Hayley Helton and Katarina Gimborys that they had packed everything for their room in Lindsey Wilson College's Jerry and Kendrick McCandless Hall.

Then Helton realized she had overlooked shampoo and conditioner. Gimborys found that the shower curtains in the new residence hall were a little too short for her.

After a quick trip to the store, the two LWC freshmen were settled in their room, the first LWC students to live in the college's latest residence hall.

"It's a really nice dorm, we like it a lot," Gimborys said. "We're excited to be living in it."

Helton and Gimborys were among more than 1,000 students who moved into LWC's residence halls this week. Helton and Gimborys moved in to McCandless Hall on Thursday because they are members of the LWC cross country program. Most of their freshmen classmates moved into residence hall rooms on Saturday morning and early afternoon.

LWC officials will not know final enrollment numbers until later next month, but they expect a record number of students to be living in residence halls as well as an overall record enrollment. LWC set records in both categories last school year with 1,052 and 2,554 students, respectively.

But college officials already know one thing -- this year's freshman class is the most academically gifted class in LWC history.

"The Class of 2015 has the highest ACT scores and the highest (cumulative high school) GPA (grade point average) in the history of this college," LWC President William T. Luckey Jr. said at a Saturday afternoon welcome ceremony in the Doris and Bob Holloway Health & Wellness Center. "So not only have we grown the campus through all of the new programs and the new buildings, but more importantly we are growing the quality of the students we choose and that choose Lindsey Wilson College. You chose us and we chose you to be part of this dynamic enterprise."

In the last two years, LWC has built an outdoor sports park, a health-and-wellness center, a classroom building and two residence halls.

"I don't know of any college in the country that is accomplishing as much as what this staff has delivered in the last 24 months," said Luckey, who has been the college's eighth president since July 1, 1998, told the freshmen. "Your college has been on an amazing role."

Freshman Jennifer Miller of Ashland, Ky., said she is excited about the prospects of studying in the new classroom building, which houses LWC's baccalaureate nursing program and nationally accredited School of Professional Counseling.

"I like the building a lot, it's just very exciting," said Miller, who is a pre-nursing major this school year. "There's just so much happening here right now."

Fellow freshman Billy Maraman of Lebanon Junction, Ky., said LWC's exponential growth over the last two years is what attracted him to the college.

"I love that it's growing," said Maraman, who plans to major in Recreation, Tourism and Sports Management. "And I just want to be part of something that's growing."

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Click here to see more pictures from move-in day.