While a steady line of cars entered Whitworth University’s campus, “I Got a Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas blared through a speaker.
“Welcome to Whitworth!” a cheerleader shouted through a megaphone.
Whitworth University welcomed 658 new students Saturday for move-in day, with 90% of them having visited campus prior to their acceptance.
Despite anticipation of a decline in enrollments amid changes under the current administration and rollback on diversity programs, Trisha Coder, the assistant director of media relations for Whitworth, said they "bucked the trend."
Coder said 232 out of the 658 new students are first-generation, 90 are transfers and 170 are athletes. Nine of them are international students – a decrease from years before because of limited visa appointments and visa denials, she said.
“With the current administration, there's been a lot of challenges on higher education across the board, not just private colleges, but colleges all over with DEI and those kinds of things that are being phased out," Coder said.
"A lot of students that are of different ethnicities fear that they're not going to be able to get the scholarships and the things that can bring them here, but we were able to make that happen in so many different ways. We have incredible, incredible donors who said, 'Nope, not today, our kids are coming,'" she continued.
Aaliyah Wilhelm, raised in Othello, Washington, said the moment she walked on campus, it felt like home.
Wilhelm is a first-generation student, majoring in psychology and minoring in criminology.
"I'm hoping to go into forensic science and do a focus on children. We had a psychology professor at our high school – he was always like, 'You should take my class, it'll be so fun.' And I completely fell in love with it, and I just want to learn more and more and more," Wilhelm said.
While it's been a bit of a culture shock coming from a large Latino population in Othello, she said she's excited to pursue higher education to honor her parents.
"I'm the oldest, so I think that stems from being the oldest, wanting to take care of everyone, but my mom has done so much for me. I love her so much," Wilhelm said. "Part of having higher education is proving that even though she didn't go into higher education, I'm going into higher education, and it's kind of her dream, and I'm kind of fulfilling that in a way."
Also defying the odds is Spokane resident, Kaitlyn Shin, a first-year student majoring in elementary education.
Shin's mother, Prisca Shin, said her daughter was diagnosed with Ganglioneuroblastoma, a rare type of cancer found in children, when she was 3 years old.
Prisca Shin said doctors found a cancerous tumor the size of a baseball on the left side of Kaitlyn Shin's stomach.
A year and a half later, doctors told Prisca Shin they had two options: They could either put her through clinical trials or take her home.
"We choose to take her out. I didn't know how long she was going to live and I wanted her to live like normal to have a normal childhood," Prisca Shin said.
Doctors never confirmed Kaitlyn Shin was cancer free but Prisca Shin knows her daughter is a "miracle baby."
"God gave us a chance to keep her and raise her," she said.
Prisca Shin said when Kaitlyn Shin got accepted to Whitworth, she started screaming and jumping up and down on the sofa.
"This relationship with the faculty and this community is valuable to us. I think this school is a perfect fit," Prisca Shin said.
Kaitlyn Shin said she initially wanted to pursue being a doctor or a pediatric psychologist because of her childhood diagnosis. However, also wanting to teach, she felt majoring in elementary education would allow her to still help children and do what she enjoys at the same time.
"I'm so glad that I made it to the point where I'm actually at college, and I'm about to work my way to pursue what I want to be," Katilyn Shin said.
