HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Monday was the first day of the fall semester for University of South Florida and University of Tampa students.
“I’m hoping to have a good year learning in my business classes and hopefully be on track for graduation,” said USF Student Scott Greenland.
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“I’m a senior, I’m going to be graduating in the spring,” said fellow USF student Zachariah Brewer.
“Just ready for the semester to start. The classes that I’m taking I really enjoy, and having all my friends back in town is going to be amazing,” said University of Tampa student, Steven Caso.
For students living on campus, many of them spent the weekend moving into their dorm rooms with the help of family and friends.
“You see the excitement of everyone moving back into campus,” said Rhea Law, President of USF.
Tampa Bay 28 caught up with USF and U Tampa officials to talk about the start of the fall semester.
At U Tampa, there are more students enrolled than ever before.
“It’s the best time of the year… We’re welcoming 11,500 students— record enrollment for us yet again, and we could not be more thrilled to have that energy and excitement back on campus,” said Stephanie Russell Krebs, Vice President for Student Affairs and Strategic Initiatives at U Tampa.
There’s a new program this semester called UTampa Cares, and it’s focused on helping students with their emotional well-being and resiliency.
“Helping students as they are in this young adult phase of their lives, figuring out who they are and how they navigate through the world. So we’re really excited about all of our programs in our wellness suite of programs for our students,” said Russell Krebs.
U Tampa students spoke with Tampa Bay 28 about their excitement for this new semester and why they love the campus.
“All the opportunity, the professors, having small class sizes, being able to build those connections with your professors,” said Caso.
“The perfect class sizes. Like we have small classes. My biggest is probably about 30 students. It’s just really easy to learn that way and be close with your professors, and it’s just perfect for me,” said Olivia Fichter, University of Tampa Student.
Over at USF, there’s lots of excitement there too from students.
“I’m always excited to come back. It’s a good campus, good energy, good vibes,” said Brewer.
For first-year USF student Sienna Callaway, she’s feeling all the emotions.
“It’s a mix of everything. I’m a little happy, a little sad, overwhelmed, all of it. Anything you can feel, I’m probably feeling it… It’s just new, it’s you’re starting a whole new life, and it’s just a big restart, refresh, and it’s a whole new experience,” said Sienna Callaway.
Starting this semester, there’s now a brand new College of AI, Cyber Security, and Computing at USF.
“And we have over 3,000 students that will be starting in that college this year,” said Law.
She told Tampa Bay 28 that this is the first one in the state of Florida and one of the first in the country.
“It’s going to be phenomenal because we have Cyber Florida and, of course, what we’re doing with Global and National Security all being part of that,” said Law.
USF is also making headway on a highly anticipated project.
“We have our new stadium that’s going up and we see the progress every day… There’s just a lot of things going on at USF. Very, very exciting,” said Law.
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