Class of 2029 Officially Joins the Ole Miss Family

The event serves as the initial bookend of students' Ole Miss career, and university officials were there to welcome and encourage them. Tuesday's ceremony marked the 177th time the school welcomed new students into the Ole Miss family.

Chancellor Glenn Boyce challenged students to explore new things and leave their mark, or footprints, on the university by living the words of the UM Creed.

"I challenge you to translate the words of our creed into action," he said. "Absorb them
into your character and allow them to embody your conduct here and beyond."

Ultimately, Boyce shared three guiding principles for new students to remember during their time at Ole Miss:

• "Your legacy begins now. My challenge is for you to start building.
• "Make it matter that you were here. Pursue learning like it's the most important thing in your life. I challenge you to make a difference at this university.
• "Choose to lead. Ole Miss builds leaders. It's what we do."

The evening's keynote speaker, Emmy-award winning CBS news correspondent and author Conor Knighton also shared a legacy of lessons and encouragement.

He is the author of the university's Common Reading Experience book, "Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park" (Crown/Penguin Random House, 2020). In it, he recounts his new beginning and lessons learned from his yearlong adventure to the national parks following the end of his engagement to his fiance.

All entering freshmen and transfer students received a copy of the book.

"Everyone does a commencement to mark the end of your time in college, but not every university has gathering like this, which you are invited to celebrate in the beginning," Knighton said. "Beginnings are full of promise and possibility, and they are also a little bit more under our control than our endings."

Beginnings are also a celebration of choice, he said.

"You chose to attend this university," he said. "And if your future feels uncertain right now, good – that's part of the fun of it. Focus your intention on making your beginning as strong as that can be."

He went on to say students should blaze their own trails through college and in life.

"You can always make your own options, make your own opportunities," he said. "(If) it turns out that the club or organization that you want doesn't exist here on campus, then start it.

"In a park, you're supposed to stay on the trail. But in life, you don't have to. Sometimes forging your own path can lead to the best of you."

Provost Noel Wilkin challenged the class to embrace a lifelong commitment to excellence.

"You are setting a course for the future," he said. "You are learning who you are, what you love and where your talents lie. Engage fully, pursue excellence and unleash your full potential."

Olivia Long, a biology major from Jonesboro, Arkansas, is looking forward to just that.

"Being part of Ole Miss is a privilege and an honor," she said. "You need to be a leader and get the job done."

A Little Yazoo native, nursing student Jamya Ellis summed up the lessons from the evening.

"Things might not go the way that you planned them to, but there's still a plan for you," she said. "Just to keep going and create your own legacy."

Top: Students recite the UM Creed during Tuesday night’s Fall Convocation in the Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss. Chancellor Glenn Boyce challenged the entering class to embody the words of the Creed in their thoughts and actions. Photo by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services