Among the 487 first-year students joining the Class of 2020 are art gallery, hospital and oyster farm interns, a video-game code writer, a teen hotline volunteer and a disability counselor — and those are just the students whose last names begin with K.

Members of Kenyon’s incoming class, along with eight transfer students, were formally ushered into the campus community during Convocation on Aug. 21, capping off a weekend packed with move-in and Orientation activities.

“At this threshold, I want to celebrate you, the very newest members of this great community,” said Diane Anci, dean of admissions and vice president of enrollment management, in her address to the class. The first-year students, Anci added, were chosen from more than 6,400 applications and “know who they are and what they want.” She continued, “We are confident they will find it here.”

The new first-year students come to Gambier from 412 high schools in 40 states and 15 countries. Students from Ohio continue to represent the highest number — 60 — of enrolled students, while 54 students call California home and 52 hail from New York. “While we cherish our geographic diversity, we value even more the diversity of perspective and experience represented among our new students,” said Anci, adding that 17.5 percent of new students in the class are domestic students of color and 5.5 percent are international.

Class of 2020 members with a prior connection to Kenyon include 55 students whose parent or sibling studied on the Hill before them and many others who experienced the College through Kenyon Review Young Writers, Camp 4 and the Kenyon Academic Partnership.

An academically accomplished group, the class boasts a combined grade point average that is just shy of 4.0. Kenyon’s new students also completed about five Advanced Placement courses and 4.2 units of science, while 72 percent took calculus and statistics.

“In the true spirit of Kenyon students, you have the distinction of being smart — so many of you are regularly described as curious, original, hard-working, ambitious and beyond your years. You are engaged. You are leaders and you care about leadership,” Anci said. “More than anything, you care about community and diversity. You are mature and wise and a little bit brave to choose this wonderful and distinct education.”

Web extra: First-years share the most important things they brought to Gambier.