Students are milling in the quad in search of classrooms. Professors going over the syllabus. The Bronco Bookstore brimming with customers.
The official start to the 2023-24 academic year is underway at Cal Poly Pomona.
The university welcomed students back to campus for the fall semester on Thursday.
More than 7,100 of this year's students were first-time, first-year and incoming transfer students.
Among them, the top 5 most common names of incoming, enrolled first-year students are Emily, Sophia, Isabella, Ashley and Samantha for the female students and Daniel, Ryan, Anthony, Nathan and Diego for males.
For incoming transfer students, the most common names were Ashley, Vanessa, Briana, Samantha and Jaqueline for female students and Daniel, Andrew, Anthony, David and Michael for males.
The top 5 high schools our new students come from include Eleanor Roosevelt High in Eastvale, Diamond Bar High, Ruben S. Ayala High in Chino Hills, Santiago High in Corona and Dougherty Valley High in the Northern California city of San Ramon.
Freshman Isabella Tapia, an English education student from Fresno, is looking forward to her classes.
"I really like it here," she said. "I don't drive, so I really love walking around the campus. It's jam-packed with greenery."
In a music classroom (Building 24), students arranged themselves in a semi-circle in chairs fronted by music stands. Assistant Professor of Music Nita Baxani, teaching her first class at Cal Poly Pomona, Music Foundations, quickly had the students up on their feet, stomping, clapping and using their bodies to practice the different rhythms of various versions of "Oye Como Va."
Across campus, English Professor Liam Corley readied students for a survey of American literature, while Plant Science Associate Professor Aaron Fox gave the class he is co-teaching a tour of Spadra Farm.
Raul Perez, a sophomore criminology student from Los Angeles, said he was looking forward to the new year.
"This is a good school," he said. "The campus is nice, and the professors are really good at their jobs and what they do."
Check out Cal Poly Pomona's Instagram to see all of the back-to-school highlights and events.
