Rollins College, Meet the Class of 2014

While Saturday welcomed most returning students back to Rollins, the Class of 2014 was busy unpacking its bags starting at 9:00 a.m. last Thursday. Some of the only upperclassmen on campus at that time were the new class’ Peer Men­tors and Resident Assistants.

As the Class of 2014 was set­tling in and unpacking, many of these RAs and Peer Mentors were wondering “Who is the Class of 2014?” Here is a quick look.

Some first-year students ar­rived a week earlier than the rest of their class to partake in an oppor­tunity to go on a trip to Costa Rica for a week.

One such student was Sanaan Riaz Khattak. Khattak was able to move into his residence hall, Ward Hall, on Aug. 7. When he first ar­rived on campus he said he “didn’t really know anyone.” He was then quickly whisked off to Costa Rica. “The Costa Rica trip was the perfect opportunity for me to get a jump-start on my college experience,” Khattak says. “We got to experi­ence the life that people in a poorer country have, and it was really humbling.”

In addition to assisting in com­munity service projects in Costa Rica, Khattak and the group were able to visit a live volcano. “The volcano was one of the highlights of the trip!” he exclaimed. All in all, Khattak said he “loved the trip and would recommend it to any incom­ing freshman!”

One interesting statistic about the Class of 2014 is that it repre­sents 13 foreign countries. One in­ternational student, Tristan Wakely, hails from “across the pond” in the United Kingdom. Like Khattak and the Costa Rica group, all of the in­ternational students arrived early. Wakely and the others moved in on Aug. 15 to go through an expanded “International Orientation.”

When asked about being an international student at Rollins, Wakely shared, “Being an interna­tional student makes you unique and sets you apart from the begin­ning.”

He also said that it allowed him to give perspective on his country to other students at Rollins who may not have visited the UK before. He expressed that he will surely en­joy his time here at Rollins College.