Spirits High For Albertus Move In Day

Kierra Gunnesson moved into her new room at Albertus Magnus College with all of the dorm staples: fans, blankets, outfits, and of course, her blue weighted dragon pillow to accompany her as she embarked on her new chapter of young adulthood.

First-year students like Gunnesson and their parents lined up in front of Dominican Hall Friday morning at the local Catholic college on the border of Prospect Hill and Newhallville as they packed their bags and prepped for their first day of school.

The college’s president, Marc Camille, now in his eighth year at Albertus, greeted families with a smile as he helped lug students’ belongings up flights of stairs. He didn’t do it alone, thanks to help from Albertus College’s upperclassmen move-in crew and from Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett.

“Move In Day is a day filled with joy, excitement,” Camille said.

The start of Albertus’s school year comes as the school has announced several new initiatives, such as a nursing program in collaboration with Griffin Health.

“Albertus has been a place where students come and they are transformed and enabled and empowered to go on and do wonderful things upon graduation,” Camille said.

He added that the class of 2028 is considered to be the largest class in their 99 years of operation, with 85 percent of students being Connecticut residents. The college is welcoming a total of 276 students, according to Brian Fernandes, vice president for enrollment management.

One of those students was 18-year-old Kierra Gunnesson, a business major from Branford who plans to go into real estate after graduation.

To her, Albertus’s small size was a huge factor when choosing a school. She said one of her biggest goals in the days and weeks ahead is to ​“make friends” as she embarks upon this new academic chapter in her life.

“I really liked the four pillars that Albertus has of prayer, study, community, and service,” she said. ​“I feel like it brings more of a sense of community, and since the school is so small, everyone knows each other instead [of at] a huge school, where it’s like, you kind of get lost in the crowd.”

While Gunnesson admitted she was nervous for the start of the school year, there was also a tinge of excitement and anticipation in the air.

“It’s just so new and such a big change, but I’m really excited,” she said.

Gunnesson’s parents Laura and Lars Gunneson weren’t new to the move-in-day activities, having already helped move in Gunnesson’s three older siblings in previous years.

Laura said she’s pleased that her daughter will still be close to home, but will have enough distance to make new memories and experience a new environment.

“[I hope] that her world just expands and she gets to experience things that are new, and she just builds her future,” Laura said.

Packing into their new room were roommates Jeremiah Oliver, Aririanta ​“Tay” Moten, and Jayden King. The three freshmen are all nursing majors and a part of the inaugural Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) cohort, hoping to create a future career in healthcare.

Oliver, 18, attributed his passion for the nursing field to his mother who is also a nurse, while Moten, 17, said that he wants an avenue to help people. King, on the other hand, doesn’t plan to stop at the nursing field, hoping to use his degree as a stepping stone to get to his overarching goal: becoming a physician.

“I just want to become a pediatrician in due time, so I just want to work with kids and just really help them out,” the 19-year-old said.

Originally from Ohio, Moten spends his time going back and forth from Connecticut to Ohio to visit friends and family, but ultimately decided to make the Elm City his home for the next four years.

“I’ll just find my way into wherever I go,” he said.

Oliver and King had a simpler trek to Albertus, with Oliver being from Bridgeport and King from East Hartford.

Similar to Gunnesson, the three also pointed to Albertus’s small size as motivation for committing to the school, helping them focus on their studies, make friends more easily, and receive academic support.

“I chose Albertus because it’s a small school. So if I’m in a classroom, I’m not in a classroom with like a lot of people…and I feel like I could get the help easy,” Moten said.

King highlighted that his goal was to maintain a high GPA to enter the nursing program, which Moten seconded.

Helping the first years move in was 25-year-old Garrett Boyonoski, an MBA student, and 19-year-old Moira O’Brien, a sophomore majoring in business. Boyonoski was on the move-in team to fulfill his duties as a graduate assistant, whereas O’Brien took on the role to give back to the campus community.

Both are on the school’s hockey team, and their time at Albertus left them with some words of advice for the first-year students.

“Enjoy it because it goes really fast. I just graduated last year with my bachelor’s, and it feels like just yesterday,” Boyonoski said.