RIPON, Wis. –Next Tuesday’s 11:15 a.m. Opening Convocation ceremony at Ripon College will welcome 284 first-time, first-year students to campus, the largest entering class since 1982. Along with 32 transfer students, a total of 316 new students will join the Ripon College community. The ceremony will take place in the Great Hall of Harwood Memorial Union.

Much of this year’s recruiting success is owed to the 1,081 applications received by Admissions, shattering the all-time record of 1,029 set in 1965. Although it would be hard to prove whether the Ripon Velorution Project and its national visibility contributed to the number of quality applicants, it certainly didn’t hurt.

Indeed, the more than 160 first-year students who pledged to leave their cars at home this year in exchange for a new bike suggests this is a class that values Ripon’s innovative effort to solve parking woes while creating a bicycle culture on campus.

Welcoming the Class of 2012 will be Gerald Seaman, vice president and dean of faculty at Ripon. In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will be moved into the Great Hall of Harwood Memorial Union. As always, the public is welcome to attend.

By the Numbers: Class of 2012

• 49 percent male, 51 percent female\
• 22 states and 7 foreign countries (China, Germany, Ghana, Jamaica, Myanmar, Nepal and Rwanda) represented
• Longest distance from home: 7,486 miles (Kathmandu, Nepal); Shortest distance from home: .13 miles
• All ethnic backgrounds, 15 languages and 16 religions represented
• 20 valedictorians and salutatorians
• 44 legacies of brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and grandparents who are Ripon alumni
• 1 Miller Park racing sausage

About Ripon College
Ripon College, founded in 1851, prepares students of diverse interests for lives of productive, socially responsible citizenship. Ripon’s liberal arts curriculum and residential campus create an intimate learning community in which students experience a richly personalized education. Ripon has consistently been recognized as a “best value” and “Best 368 College” by The Princeton Review, a “Best Buy in College Education” by Barron’s, a “Best Liberal-Arts College” by Washington Monthly, one of America's Best Colleges by Forbes, and is listed among the 160 best schools in the nation by Colleges of Distinction. For more information about Ripon College, visit www.ripon.edu.

Gerald Seaman