Welcome Class of 2027!

Do you feel that?

Yeah, us too. Move-in and orientation weekend means Rockhurst welcomes about 350 new freshmen to campus. It’s always a team effort, with staff, faculty and current students pitching in to help get those students moved in and the amazing orientation team taking it from there with a weekend of activities to integrate the newest Hawks into college life and this place so many have called home.

So who are they? Let’s meet the class of 2027:

Many of them are aspiring nurses. It’s the most popular major, with business, biology and engineering also in the top five. No. 2? “Still deciding.”

A world-class class. Most of the incoming freshman class hail from, you guessed it — Missouri. And other nearby states — Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Illinois — round out the top five. The sixth most common “hometown,” though, might surprise you — Egypt. All told, the freshman class of 2027 come from nine different countries and 17 different states.

They are already earning accolades. Earlier this month Sporting KC announced freshman Lily Sowle was one of four recipients of the Victory Project’s Emerging Sports Leaders Scholarship. Sowle started her own charity, Lily’s League, at 12 years old and since collected an estimated $230,000 of gently used soccer equipment for children in Haiti and in Little Haiti, Florida.

In Their Own Words. In the spring we asked some of our incoming Hawks to share why they were excited about coming to Rockhurst, what they were looking forward to, what their goals were and why they were excited to study in Kansas City. Here’s what they said:

“I’m most excited to make lifelong friendships and to be surrounded by bright minds” — Ganijah Cannon.

“I fell in love with the nursing program at Rockhurst. I’ve always heard so many extraordinary things about the campus, students and teachers.” — Asharia Karst Daniels

“I want to be the best I can be in whatever I do, no matter where I go in life.” — Aubree Smith

“I love the diversity in cultures that can be found in every corner of the city as well as the amazing architecture and graffiti that makes us stand out.” — John Bellinghausen