Back to the bustle at YSU

By DENISE DICK

denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Streets surrounding Youngstown State University returned to the normal hustle and bustle Wednesday as classes resumed.

Freshmen Anthony Bentley from Cleveland and Christian Hopkins from Bridgeport, Conn., sat inside Kilcawley Center after their first class.

Bentley, who chose YSU to play basketball, is studying exercise science.

“I just wanted to get out of Connecticut, honestly,” said Hopkins, who hopes to play football.

Both live in Lyden House on campus.

Neither reported jitters about the first day or first year of college and both look forward to the first home football game Sept. 12.

The two young men are among a freshman class that YSU reports is larger in number and more diverse than last year. It’s also the strongest academically in the 107-year history of the university. The number of honors college students also has increased by nearly 70 percent.

“We have made tremendous strides in the past year to recruit students with increased academic credentials and from an expanded geographic region,” President Jim Tressel said in a news release. “The challenge now is to ensure that these freshmen are given the resources to be successful and graduate in a timely fashion.”

Signs at the entrances to academic buildings encourage students to take 15 or 16 credits per semester to graduate in four years.

YSU reported that 2,125 freshmen are enrolled, up 17 percent from last fall and the largest since 2012. An average ACT test score of 21.15 and high school grade-point average of 3.14 are both new highs for the university.

There’s also an increase of out-of-state students.

As evidence of the university’s widening its recruitment footprint, this year’s freshmen hail from 423 high schools, up 40 percent, and 53 Ohio counties, an increase of 43 percent.

Residence halls are at capacity, a YSU news release said.

The increased traffic caused at least one minor accident. Ron Cole, a university spokesman, said a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle at Wick and Lincoln avenues. There were no injuries, he said.

Emily Wyant, a junior from Austintown, and Dylan Negro, a Lordstown High School senior, sat at an outdoor table near the fountain outside of Kilcawley Center after their 8 a.m. classes.

This is Wyant’s first year in the nursing program – her first two years were in pre-nursing – and she expects it to be more challenging.

“There will be more studying,” she said.

Negro is taking a full 15 credits at YSU this semester through College Credit Plus, a state program that allows high school students to earn college credit.

He has to take only one high school class, English, to graduate and will take it at YSU. His decision to take college courses in high school was motivated by both finances and a desire to finish early.