VIDEO

Flash mob

"What I wish I had known as a freshman"

Sup UC Davis!!!

Lion dancers, professors, hip-hoppers, a capella singers, Olympians, taiko drummers, a Bollywood dance troupe and the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh! — that’s what was up Sept. 25 at the second annual New Student Celebration.

How you doinnnn? ;)

Como estas

Welcome to Hogwarts. The sorting will begin shortly.

Look for Joseph Gordon-levitt somewhere in the audience ;)

I bet half of the people here have iPhones.

That would be half of the nearly 4,500 freshmen and transfers who joined the fun in The Pavilion at the ARC. They texted to their classmates — with the messages going up on a giant screen and The Pavilion’s scoreboards.

Where are you?

I’m over here.

Taylor (RA) will you marry me?

No

Davis is the best UC, hands down!

UC Davis>UC Berkeley

Gunrock gave me a high five! =)

That horse guy was pretty awesome =P

It’s not a horse, it’s a mustang!

•••

They heard from Athletics Director Terry Tumey: “I’m a new Aggie, too. We are raising the bar at this institution. That’s what new classes do.

“Athletics represents you. We want you to come out to be a part of it.”

Many of them already had, by attending a rally the night before.

I caught a pair of tube socks at the rally!!!!!!!!!!!!

I WANT TUBE SOCKS

We all want tube socks!

Im wearing aggie underwear

Fer sure fer sure fer sure

And they heard from our athletes who competed in the Summer Games in London: runner Kim Conley and swimmer Scott Weltz (both are alums who now volunteer as assistant coaches here) and sprint kayaker Carrie Johnson, a first-year student in the School of Veterinary Medicine. (She started the fall term just 72 hours after her last Olympic race.).

Conley made it into the Olympics 5,000-meter with an incredible finish in the trials, coming from 20 meters back and leaning across the line to take third place by just 4/100ths of a second — “my moment of excellence.”

Weltz commended the “Davis Way,” saying it’s “why I’m still here eight years later.”

Johnson did her undergraduate work at UC San Diego, but she concluded her talk with an expression of pride in her new campus: “Go Ags!”

•••

The newest Aggies texted shout-outs to their residence halls and particular floors, to their roommates and friends, and sent messages in the hope of getting to know some people better.

Happy birthday James! Best roommate ever

A shout out to my roommate Arielle!!! Looking forward to a great year!!!

Can I have your numba????

Call me maybe ;)

If you are a girl with a pink iPhone case look to your left

•••

They texted about some of their accomplishments these first few days at school:

I ate spaghetti successfully.

Biking and not crashing!

I successfully rode my bike while drinking coffee

Surviving our first water polo practice! Shout out to the other freshies!!!