Diverse, Resilient, and Full of Optimism: Meet Babson’s Class of 2024
Virtually or in person, the Babson College community is better together. This week, it grew by hundreds.
Even though this year’s move-in was nowhere next to normal, members of the Class of 2024, and the student leaders and staff who welcomed them in, showed true Babson spirit.
“The Class of 2024 is a very special class who clearly realize the value of entrepreneurial leadership now more than ever,” said Vice President of Enrollment Management and Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid Courtney Minden.
Returning to campus has been an extensive undertaking, one that President Stephen Spinelli Jr. MBA’92, PhD said “will take collective effort, personal responsibility, and community accountability.”
“Campus will look and feel different, yet being there offers us a measure of personal connection and normalcy that many of us are craving,” said Spinelli. “I am confident we can thrive—as entrepreneurial leaders and as One Babson.”
Diverse Perspectives, One Shared Experience
Students from this year’s class hail from 35 states and more than 40 countries, including India, China, Brazil, Canada, and Thailand. Forty nine percent of students are of color, 22% of students are international, and 22% are first-generation college students.
The class’s 11 global scholars represent South Africa, Rwanda, Portugal, Nepal, Mexico, Liberia, Kenya, Brazil, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Founded in 2014, Babson’s Global Scholars Program awards need-based scholarships to a small, highly talented group of international students each year.
Maribeth Flakes, director of student engagement, said the Class of 2024 has the opportunity to put Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® into practice on day one and is poised to thrive through its already developed ability to endure.
“They’re entrepreneurs, they’re problem solvers, they’re coming in at this critical crossroads,” Flakes said. “With challenges, comes opportunity. … This is a class that concluded its previous learning experience with upheaval. They have already persevered through that experience.”
Flakes lauded the moment in time this class has in front of it.
“Be optimistic that there’s so much we can learn from this experience,” Flakes said. “Their Babson degree is going to stand the test of time.”
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