51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ

At the start of the event, the community was treated to a performance led by faculty musicians Joseph Alpar, Cristian Amigo, Nicholas Brooke, Virginia Kelsey, John Kirk, Kerry Ryer-Parke '90, and Michael Wimberly and faculty music fellow Chris Rose.

President Laura Walker read the traditional Bennington , encouraging students to take advantage of Bennington's emphasis on hands-on experience and learning by doing. "In the coming weeks and years, you’ll question your assumptions, find unexpected mentors, and—if you're doing it right—you’ll likely fail a few times," said President Walker. "But from that failure, you'll learn to persist and to be resilient. You'll learn to trust yourself."

Blu Mehari '26, president of the , was the student speaker. Mehari offered advice to new students, reminding them that "this school is quite literally what you all choose to make it, that Bennington is almost totally subject to the wills of its students, the community you choose to invent."

"What animates this school, what keeps it alive are the people that form its clubs, teach and attend its classes, and put on its performances," said Mehari. "What you give to it, it will give to you."

Shay Totten '91, director of alumni and constituent engagement, was the staff speaker. He shared part of his own Bennington story, including his various journeys as an alum, a Bennington parent, and most recently, as a staff member. Totten encouraged students to build their own Bennington networks and support system.

"Take a moment to look around you," said Totten. "The students sitting around you—even if you don’t know them yet—are more likely to be the support system you’ll build while here at Bennington, but one that you’ll carry for decades to come. [...] Soak as much of it in as you can. Collaborate and connect with the people who are here making the most of this incredibly unique, incredibly challenging, and incredibly rewarding Bennington experience."

John Bullock, vice president for academic affairs, dean of faculty, and faculty member in Chemistry, spoke about Bennington's robust faculty. "They are scientists and musicians, writers and philosophers, artists and anthropologists," said Bullock. "Many of them are a few of those things—innovators at the interfaces of fields that don’t often connect. They are—like our curriculum and our student body—relentlessly in motion, ever growing and discovering. "

Faculty speaker Joseph Alpar spoke about his relationship to 51³ÉÈËÁÔÆæ, which began through his mother, who was an alum. His journey at the College has continued over the past six years as an ethnomusicologist.

"I’ve become a champion of what it means to teach and to learn here," said Alpar. "Bennington is a place that insists on learning by doing, on creating, on experimenting, and on constantly asking new questions ."

To new students, Alpar said, "I and all your faculty want Bennington to feel like your home over these next four years. Study the things you excel at, but don’t be afraid to take the course that might unsettle you, that might stretch you, that might even redirect your path."

Explore and learn more about the Class of 2029.