At fall convocation, campus leaders urge 9,000 new students to discover the ‘Berkeley Way’

Like most incoming students at UC Berkeley, Jocelyn Orozco is both nervous and excited. She’s nervous about “how challenging the classes are and how competitive everyone is,” she said, and “excited about meeting new friends and absorbing as much as I can in the next two years.” 

A transfer student from Santa Barbara City College, Orozco knows she’ll have less time to adjust to Berkeley than first-year students, but she’s eager to dive in. 

“I was very involved all throughout high school and city college,” she said. “I’m very school spirited.”

Orozco got her first taste of Berkeley’s spirit on Thursday morning when nearly 9,000 new students gathered for fall convocation at Haas Pavilion. The annual rite of passage is part of Golden Bear Orientation, a six-day whirlwind that connects the newest members of the campus community to each other and to faculty and staff, and introduces them to Berkeley’s resources and culture.

For most students, instruction at Berkeley starts Wednesday, Aug. 28.

This year’s convocation included a thunderous performance by Cal Raijin Taiko, Berkeley’s Japanese drumming ensemble; traditional and contemporary songs by the Cal Band; a video — “What will be your first step at Berkeley?” — and the antics of campus mascot Oski the Bear. Administrative and student leaders offered a mix of personal stories and wisdom.  

Chancellor Rich Lyons, in his first convocation address as Berkeley’s newly-minted 12th chancellor, told students, “You will also soon discover the ‘Berkeley Way,’ at the heart of which is our incessant questioning of the status quo, […] our unshakeable belief that there has got to be a better way.”

Lyons said faculty members and students at Berkeley have the freedom and agency to imagine and explore what the future holds. “This is innovation and entrepreneurship on a grand scale,” he said, referring not just to the number of venture-backed startups launched by alumni, but to “everything we do.”

Alumni speaker Sara Peach, who graduated last spring with a degree in architecture, recalled the first step she took as a new student to shake off the anxiety she felt: attending convocation.

“I was too shy to talk to anyone on my first day. I remember wearing my favorite bright pink pair of pants, hoping that someone would compliment them,” she said. “Thankfully, a kind girl came up to me and did just that.” 

That girl, Peach said, eventually became her roommate, and reminded her to make the most of her Berkeley experience. “At the end of the day you get what you give,” she said. “It may not be that first interaction that brings you someone to lean on, but rather the third or more.”

Shrinidhi Gopal, the new ASUC president, told new students to take advantage of everything they can. “Watch yourself fill out an application for [Berkeley] Haas your sophomore year, [do] research with Nobel laureates during your summers, or witness firsthand experimentation with the very elements our school has discovered.” 

Before convocation, students huddled in the small groups they are assigned to during orientation. Their conversations buzzed as they got to know one another — where they’re from, what they’re interested in, and why they chose Berkeley. 

Among them was America Ortiz, who transferred to Berkeley from Oxnard College in Southern California and now lives in Anchor House, Berkeley’s newest home for transfer students. She said choosing Berkeley was easy. “I got a full ride, and it’s the No. 1 school in California, so I had to come,” she said. 

Ortiz received Berkeley’s most prestigious scholarship, the Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholarship.

Ortiz, who has financially supported her family, said the amount of financial aid she was awarded was a deciding factor in deciding where to go. When she found out about her scholarship, “it was my sign that [this is] where I’m supposed to go, and that I have the support here to succeed,” she said.

Ortiz is part of a rising tide: More students are receiving more financial support than ever before. Last year, the campus awarded more than $1 billion in financial aid and scholarships — the highest amount ever disbursed — and so far, for the 2024–25 school year, nearly $307.9 million has been given to over 20,000 students. 

If convocation is any indication, this new next school year promises to be one of excitement, exploration and potential.