This week, as ’Cane Kickoff continues, thousands of new students will attend a series of events on the Coral Gables Campus to familiarize themselves with their new home.
On Wednesday evening, the new students and their families filled the Watsco Center for ’Canes Take Flight, an annual energetic fanfare of campus camaraderie.
University President Julio Frenk, alongside Felicia Marie Knaul, director of the University’s Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and director of hemispheric and global affairs, addressed the incoming class of students. And for the first time, the event included graduate students, law students, medical students, and their families.
“Despite the world adjusting to the post-pandemic phase of COVID-19, the incoming class is one of the most competitive and diverse in our history,” said Frenk.
This fall, about a quarter of the University’s first-year students hail from Florida. The institution also is welcoming a cohort of first-year international students from 56 countries, covering almost all regions of the globe.
“You worked hard to get here—and we are glad you chose the U,” said Frenk. “Many have observed that Miami is a microcosm of the type of society you and your peers around the world will graduate into—diverse, innovative, multicultural, and thus, directly affected by some of the most vexing challenges of our time, including emerging from a pandemic that is the latest but certainly not the last of those challenges.”
The event was hosted by the Department of Orientation and Commuter Student Involvement and directed by program coordinators and returning students Tatiana Alvarado, Victoria Gomez, Katarina Jenkins, and Meera Patel. The purpose of the fun-filled, lively affair was to welcome incoming students and introduce them to the rich University culture and traditions—like how to properly “throw up the U” and how to chant and spell out the famous “C-A-N-E-S” cheer.
Also taking center stage to address the new ’Canes and their families were Jeffrey Duerk, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost; Jaime Williams-Smith, Student Government president; Katie Meier, head coach for women’s basketball; and Alonzo Highsmith, general manager of football operations. Each speaker offered inspirational advice and useful information to the newest flock of ’Canes.
To close the event, the Frost Band of the Hour, UCheer cheerleaders, the Sunsations dance team, and the Punjabi dance group Hurricane Bhangra hit the stage with spirited energy to demonstrate the one-of-a-kind ’Cane spirit.
