{"id":28473,"date":"2025-08-11T13:27:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T17:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/?p=28473"},"modified":"2025-08-11T15:43:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:43:27","slug":"marshall-university-welcomes-class-of-2029","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/2025\/08\/marshall-university-welcomes-class-of-2029\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall University to welcome Class of 2029"},"content":{"rendered":"
Marshall University\u2019s annual Week of Welcome (WOW) is set to begin on Tuesday, Aug. 12, with events and activities to welcome students before the fall semester gets under way.<\/p>\n

This year, more than 2,000 students are registered for Week of Welcome events. The activities are focused on making students feel at home and a part of the Marshall family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWOW provides new students an opportunity to immerse themselves in our campus culture and traditions, which are essential to being part of the Marshall family,\u201d said Marcie Simms, vice president of Student Affairs. \u201cBy fostering connections and a sense of belonging early on, WOW sets the stage for a fulfilling college experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

WOW check-in and residence hall move-in for freshmen begins on Tuesday, Aug. 12, and continues through Wednesday, Aug. 13.<\/p>\n

Activities kick off on Tuesday evening with a block party at Marshall\u2019s Recreation Center from 7-9 p.m. On Wednesday, activities include an ROTC Rock Climbing Wall, campus tours to help locate classrooms, opportunities to learn about the university\u2019s online platform for classes and sessions on online safety, Design Thinking and more.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Aug. 14, a welcome event and a career development session led by President Brad D. Smith will kick off the morning in the Rec Center. Students will have the opportunity to earn a microcredential for completing the morning session with President Smith. Then, students will head to the stadium for the annual freshman \u201cM\u201d photo on the football field at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n

Military connected students are invited to attend a special lunch event following the photo. In the afternoon, students will begin their first class at Marshall, UNI 100. \u201cFreshman First Class\u201d is an introduction to the academic structures and expectations of college life. Those who successfully complete the course will earn one hour of elective credit.<\/p>\n

The evening will wrap up with a showing of “We Are Marshall” at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. The event starts at 8:15 p.m. and is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are thrilled to once again open the Night at the Joan tradition to the entire Huntington community,\u201d Simms said. \u201cThe event invites everyone to bring a blanket or chair to Joan C. Edwards Stadium to enjoy a screening of ‘We Are Marshall’ while sitting on the football field.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, Aug. 15, the Class of 2029 will celebrate the beginning of their Marshall journey with a class photo at 10:30 a.m. around the John Marshall statue, followed by a united walk\u00a0across campus to attend Freshman Convocation at 11 a.m., which will be held at Marshall\u2019s Rec Center.<\/p>\n

A variety of classes fill the day including college sessions for individual paths of study. On Friday afternoon, students will have the opportunity to \u201cFind Their Herd\u201d as dozens of gatherings are scheduled around campus to allow students to meet others who share similar interests and learn more about campus services.<\/p>\n

On Friday evening, students are invited to attend the Downtown Huntington Art Walk, beginning at 5 p.m., followed by Herd Rally from 7-9 p.m., Marshall\u2019s annual pep rally event, which will feature Marshall Athletics, the Marching Thunder and music by Madhouse. The event is part of 9th Street Live, one of Huntington\u2019s summer concert series held every Friday on 9th Street between Third and Fourth avenues.<\/p>\n

Student Affairs will also officially unveil the Thunderdome, Marshall\u2019s new Esports space, in Drinko Library from 7-11 p.m.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Aug. 16, RecFest will be held at the Marshall Rec Center from noon-3 p.m. RecFest is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

WOW events wrap up on Saturday with a carnival on the Memorial Student Center Plaza from 6-8 p.m. where registered WOW participants will get to Build-A-Bison, one of the most popular WOW activities. The evening concludes with a gameshow at 8 p.m. in the Don Morris Room of the Memorial Student Center.<\/p>\n

Throughout WOW this year, Marshall will be offering sensory-friendly versions of many of the events. The printed schedule students will receive at check-in will have a \u201csocial battery\u201d indicator on each event so students will know what type of energy to expect at each event, said Buffy Six, communications coordinator for Student Affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudent Affairs would like to thank all of our campus and community partners for coming together every year to welcome our new students to campus,\u201d Six said.<\/p>\n

Fall 2025 classes begin on Monday, Aug. 18. To view a complete schedule of WOW activities, visit: www.marshall.edu\/wow.<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marshall University\u2019s annual Week of Welcome (WOW) is set to begin on Tuesday, Aug. 12, with events and activities to welcome students before the fall semester gets under way. This year, more than 2,000 students are registered for Week of Welcome events. The activities are focused on making students feel at home and a part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics","category-news-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28473"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28476,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28473\/revisions\/28476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}