Berry College kicked off the new academic year Monday, welcoming approximately 689 new students to campus.
Interesting facts about 2008, the birth year of the class of 2030:
- Barack Obama was elected, becoming the first African American President of the United States.
- Top movies: “The Dark Knight,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Iron Man.”
- Bestselling novel and nationwide sensation “The Hunger Games” was published.
- The stock market crashed in 2008, which led to the Great Recession.
- The top song of the year was “Low” by Flo Rida, featuring T-Pain.
- The music streaming service “Spotify” launched later in the year.
- Google Inc. released the open-source browser “Google Chrome.”
- They were in 6th grade when the Covid pandemic closed schools in March of 2020.
The new students arrived last week for orientation called Viking Venture. The class includes students from 34 states and 10 countries. After move-in, students met their LifeWorks supervisors and BCC mentors, took a class photo as Berry’s “B” and participated in community service projects.
This year, incoming students participated in a new tradition during orientation called “Martha’s Table,” named after Berry’s founder, Martha Berry. More than 600 students and mentors gathered at tables outside the Ford Complex with faculty and first-year mentors to discuss their summer reading, eat dinner together and celebrate the transition into college.
Written by Public Relations Student Manager Cammie Wilks
