The moment they become Royals

On move-in day, packed cars stream onto campus while commuters, PSEO students, and other new Royals begin making their own way into fall. By the end of Welcome Week, they’ve learned their way around campus, met roommates and classmates, worshiped together, and started building the rhythms that will shape their first semester. This year’s newest Royals represent hundreds of different stories, personalities, and plans for what’s ahead. 

But for those first few days, the goal is simple: help hundreds of individual students connect with one another and feel like they know where they are, who’s around them, and where to turn when they need something. 

Starting on the right foot

This year’s Welcome Week theme, “Kingdom Come,” draws from the Lord’s Prayer and a vision of Christian community rooted in welcome and belonging. 

“Kingdom Come invites you into a reality where you already belong. Through Jesus, God’s Kingdom is active on our campus, welcoming everyone without exception,” says Stacy Utecht, director of campus engagement. “At Bethel, belonging shapes who you are and sparks a lifelong journey of becoming more like Christ as we live out our faith and bring heaven to earth, right here and right now.”

For Utecht and her student life team, that idea becomes tangible almost immediately. The feeling of “welcome” begins with President Ross Allen and Annie Allen personally greeting students and handing out ice cold bottles of water as families pull onto campus. It continues with the joyful, quintessentially Bethel move-in experience: energetic student volunteers unload cars and carry belongings into residence halls, often before new students quite know what’s happening. 

Welcome Week is designed to make room for both sides of starting college: the practical details that help students feel ready and the shared experiences that help them feel at home. Students can take ID photos, sort out meal plans and logins, and find answers from offices across campus before classes begin. Then come the community-building events: a picnic, glow party, residence hall kickoffs, Koinonia worship, a community service project, family events, and more. 

Some of it is practical. Some of it is tradition. Together, it gives students several days to learn something more important than campus terminology: They don’t have to figure out college alone. 

“This is a place you’re going to develop and grow as a human, where you’re going to find some of the best friends of your life, where you’re going to develop in your maturity,” Utecht says. “Here, you’re going to grow in your intellect and your ability to be someone who makes an impact. These four years are going to be radically transformational for you as a student—and that experience starts at Welcome Week.” 

Across more than 100 areas of study, students will learn alongside faculty; put their skills to work through internships, research, clinicals, and other hands-on experiences; and explore how their faith connects with their studies and future. And through The Studio for Vocation and Calling and the Bethel Career Commitment, career preparation and support are increasingly visible throughout the undergraduate experience and beyond graduation.

But first, meet the students taking those first steps.

About the new class

There are 395 new traditional undergraduate students*, 74 transfer students, and 100 former Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) students entering as traditional undergraduate students. There are also 33 students in BUILD and 771 new and returning PSEO students, bringing total undergraduate enrollment to 2,524. These new Royals join other new students in Bethel’s adult and graduate programs, which start throughout the fall. (*Enrollment numbers are unofficial until the 10th day of classes.)

The most popular majors for incoming students are:

• Business (123)
• Pre-nursing (69)
• Biology (27)
• Rehabilitation and Movement Science (26)
• Psychological Sciences (25)

Most common first names: Noah (12), Anna (10)
Most common last names: Johnson and Anderson.

Numbers tell part of the story. Their answers to one final admissions question tell a little more.

The whole admissions application process is a chance for students to introduce themselves to Bethel. But as students gear up for Welcome Week, we give them one more open-ended ask: What’s one thing we should know about you?

Here are 10 answers that caught our attention:

• Spent the summer on a commercial salmon fishing boat in Alaska.
• Has ridden 166 different roller coasters (we want to see that spreadsheet).
• Fully restored a ’66 Pontiac Bonneville.
• Is a triplet.
• Has been on Air Force Two.
• Has a great-grandfather who attended Bethel.
• Had 10 extra teeth (so many questions).
• At least three have been to all 50 states.
• Performed in a musical with a broken jaw (we can’t wait to see what you can do in performing arts with a fully functioning face)!
• Was on a regional ballroom dance team. 

Different interests. Different experiences. Different plans for the future. Over the coming months and years, those individual stories will intersect in classrooms, residence halls, Chapel, labs, internships, performances, athletic teams, and countless ordinary moments across campus. 

“Whether you’re living on campus, whether you’re a PSEO student, whether you’re a commuter, you belong here,” Utecht says. “You’re welcome in the Bethel family. You’re part of something bigger than yourself, and you’re going to have this amazing experience of growing into yourself and who you’re supposed to become. This is a new chapter, and there are countless people here who care for you and have your back.” 

For this year’s newest Royals, that chapter has officially begun.

And it began with a lot of help.

Welcome Week wouldn’t happen without an army of about 60 student volunteers, led by a dedicated team of leaders who’ve been planning this week for months. We asked those core Welcome Weekers to reflect on their experience last week, and what they'd say to incoming Royals: 

Could you be part of the next class of Royals?

Applications are now open for spring and fall 2027. Come see Bethel for yourself, meet the people who could shape your experience, and explore where your interests could take you.

Learn more