Convocation 2026: Heeding advice, finding community and having ‘a beginner’s mind’
Thousands of new students packed the Kohl Center for their formal welcome to the world of being a Badger.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is welcoming some 8,600 first-year students and about 1,100 new transfer students to campus this fall. On Tuesday, many of them attended New Student Convocation, representing an incoming class with students from every corner of the state, country and world (welcome, UW’s first students from Papua New Guinea!).
And welcome, Ella, all 60 of you.
Yes, Ella finally topped Ava as the most popular women’s name among new students. There are also 55 Jacks. And even 16 new students named, fittingly, Madison.
At Convocation in the Kohl Center, all those Ellas and Jacks and nearly 6,000 other new Badgers started learning beloved campus traditions, like singing “Varsity” and cheering on the UW Marching Band. They also heard a lot of solid advice.
Provost John Zumbrunnen’s advice was a challenge: “If you see something you think you might be interested in — even if you’re not sure — take a chance, be bold, give it a try.”
Lori Reesor, vice chancellor for student affairs, assured the students that they will find community: “It may be a new friend who admits they’re homesick, and you’ll say, ‘Me too’ — and suddenly you’re both figuring out how to build a little piece of home here on campus.”
Percival Matthews, a professor of education and special advisor to the provost for community belonging and engagement, told them that they have a role to play in civility on campus. “Your role is to do your best,” he said. “And when you fail despite your best efforts, to offer a real apology to try to do better. And your role is to encourage others to do the same, perhaps especially your friends when you see them go astray.”
He concluded with this simple advice: “Try to take care of each other, OK?”
Among those in the crowd was Nabeel Ahmed, an incoming student from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, who plans to major in legal studies. He is excited about Madison. “I wanted to be close to home,” he shared. “But not too close.” However, the homesickness was setting in as Convocation started.
“I just moved in yesterday and I was missing my family,” he said after the event. The advice from Reesor and Matthews struck home. “They told us how we are one big community and we have to stand for each other and help each other. That just made me feel more welcome.”
Interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots reminded the students that even though college will be fun, it is also supposed to be hard. He implored them to approach complex problems with a “beginner’s mind” — one that sees there are many possibilities and is “open to the ideas of those around you, and learning from their experiences.”
Those words resonated with Nav Brar, a first-generation transfer student from Madison who will be studying management. The self-described entrepreneur said, “The big reason why I transferred here is because I wanted to challenge myself even more. And I wanted to enter a bigger pond with bigger fish.”
Wilcots also addressed the elephant in the room for many of the fresh faces at the Kohl Center: the nerves of making new friends.
“Look around — some of the people in this room will become your lifelong friends,” he said. “Some of you might have already met people that will be lifelong friends. For others, it will take a month or a semester or two, and that’s OK. And that is the advice I’ve heard so frequently from our students: You will find your people.”
This year’s Convocation student speaker was junior Azi Fanale. Her advice to her new peers? Be bigger than yourself.
“As you begin this year, I challenge you to find a way to belong to something bigger than yourself, to work for something bigger than yourself and to leave something bigger than yourself,” she said. “Embrace these three pillars, and I promise you will leave this year better than you started. Because the true measure of the UW experience is not only what we learn, but what we do with what we learn.”
