New Ramblers step into their first classes with big feelings and bigger dreams 

Led by Matt Bruder, a clinical assistant professor and former DJ with acrylic-framed glasses and a neatly trimmed ginger beard, the course—one of several sections offered—is part of a challenging two-part sequence that includes a lab component and introduces students to anatomical language and histology, followed by a systematic study of the structure and function of the body’s internal systems. 

Martenstein took a seat in a sunlit, sixth-floor classroom that looks onto Lake Michigan. Being in a new city, knowing few people, entering a notoriously rigorous course—she openly admits she felt intimidated. Far from home and thrust into a new environment, the world was rapidly shifting under her feet.

But she was reassured by Bruder’s wry, outspoken demeanor and the welcoming atmosphere of the course. As he introduced himself and walked students through the syllabus, Bruder extended an open invitation for students to come to visit his office and outlined a highly flexible exam policy, which offers students a second, and third “resurrection” opportunity to sit for the cumulative final exam, with the highest score always recorded. “We’re a Catholic university, right?’ he joked. 

At the same time, he stressed his high expectations for students, whom he encouraged to study daily due to the large volume of foundational information they would be digesting. In return, he promised to show them unremitting dedication to his teaching. 

“A few years back, about a block from campus, a car slams into me… That was the day of the exam,” Bruder said. “I abandoned my broken-down car, ran across campus, and still gave the exam at its start time. Very few things will keep me from our time together. Our time together is very important to me.” 

It was a comforting message for first-year nursing student Jordan Black (BSN ’29), who, until last week, lived in Belleville, Illinois, with his mother, J’Rel London. He chose Loyola, not only because it would bring him to Chicago, where his father, Jawaan Black lives, but also because of the reputation of the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the opportunity to fulfill a longtime dream of becoming a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA). 

“It’s everything I wanted, basically,” he said. 

Applications for Loyola Nursing’s BSN program, ranked #26 nationally by U.S. News & World Report, have grown across the past decade, and a new building, scheduled to open in fall 2028 on Loyola’s Lake Shore campus, will provide space for a projected 400 students annually—nearly doubling the size of Loyola Nursing’s four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) track.  

Loyola’s growth extends far beyond its nursing program. This year, the University welcomed 3,156 new students, seeing the largest number of applications and admitted students in its history. Arriving from 47 states and 67 countries and including 471 transfer students, the incoming class averaged a 3.87 GPA (among first-year students) and showed especially strong representation in biology, psychology, finance, political science, and forensic science. 

An ‘intentionally broad’ core curriculum

Back in the Mundelein Center for the Fine and Performing Arts later that afternoon, students in an introductory music class called The Art of Listening took their seats as the strains of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 played softly in the background. A requirement for students in Loyola’s Arts in Society Living-Learning Community (LLC)—a residency placement program that places students with a shared interest in theater, visual arts, music, and dance in the same floors of Simpson Hall—the course traces music’s evolution from the Middle Ages to the present day, with the goal of sharpening students’ critical listening skills. 

“We try to situate what we’re hearing in the time and place that it came from,” said instructor Jennifer Budziak, who directs Loyola’s University Singers soprano and alto ensembles and is an assistant conductor for the Chicago Symphony Chorus. “We look at music not as some distant, far-away museum piece, but as real and from the heart, from the passions, and from the craft of people who lived then and are not that different from who we are now.”  

To show how lyrics and melody work together to convey meaning, Budziak sang the words of “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “Joy to the World.” Later, she played several musical excerpts, including the first two movements of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, a pop song with sparse instrumentation, and a celebratory South African traditional called “Emarabini.” After each song, she encouraged students to describe their impressions of the pieces with single adjectives. 

“Very grand and…very brassy,” one student remarked after hearing Symphony No. 4. 

“Commanding,” another said. 

In the discussion that followed, students reflected on moments in which they’d felt connected to the communal feeling of music, such as playing in high school bands or listening to music with their friends in cars.  

For Chesca Roque (BS ’29), a first-year criminal justice major from outside St. Paul, Minnesota, the discussion brought back memories of her time performing in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, as a member of the Rosemount High School Color Guard. Though her creative interests have recently veered toward dance, music remains core to her identity; she has played clarinet since the fifth grade.  

“We are required to take this class for the LLC, but I’m kind of excited,” she said. “Having a course in music instead of just having it as a hobby or doing it as an extracurricular activity means I’m going to continue having it be a part of my life. And then I can branch out from there.” 

That’s a message Douglas W. Woods, provost and chief academic officer at Loyola, would be pleased to hear. As he told first-year and transfer students during New Student Convocation in Gentile Arena on August 22, “Our core curriculum is intentionally broad. It’s designed to expose you to many disciplines and ideas from philosophy and history, from arts to sciences…there’s a reason. By doing so, we’re ensuring that you have a better understanding of God’s creation in all of its diversity, complexity, and grandeur.” 

A culture of caring

The nurturing support of Loyola’s staff and faculty was a theme echoed by many first-year students on the first day of classes. Shortly after noon, in a classroom in the School of Environmental Sustainability, Olivia Hahn (BA ’29), who arrived at Loyola from Des Moines, Iowa, took a seat at a long table for an introductory course called The Scientific Basis of Environmental Issues, taught by Debjani Ghatak, a hydro-climatologist and lecturer born in India.  Motivated by the widely publicized water crisis in Flint, Michigan, in which thousands of residents were exposed to dangerously high levels of lead in their drinking water, Hahn is considering pursuing a degree in environmental policy, “specifically, focusing on how human actions impact our earth.” 

During class, she partnered with a classmate on an icebreaker activity, in which students introduced themselves to one another and discussed their reasons for taking the class. “While I’m not the most scientifically engaged person, I do like working with people,” she said. “I think dipping my toes in the connection between science and the study of people—that’s what I’m interested in.” 

The collaborative structure of the class, which will include a multi-stage infographic project focused on educating the public about an environmental problem, appealed to Hahn. So did Ghatak’s approachable teaching style, evident in some of her very first remarks to the class.

“I like to actually know students,” Ghatak said. “That’s why I do a very old-style roll call. That’s actually more for me than for you, because it’s how I try to connect with your names and practice them in my head.” 

Since moving into her dormitory early last week, Hahn has been regularly dropping by Welcome Week events—a West Quad BBQ, New Student Convocation, and a Sunday Funday—to make new friends and adjust to her new life as a college student. “It’s easy because everyone’s in the same boat; no one knows anyone. So you’re kind of meeting everyone,” she said.  

“I really like the vibe of Loyola,” she added. “It wants you to be well-rounded, and it’s holistic in its approach. Students feel really supported here.” 

Yet, acclimating to life as a college student isn’t always easy. Just before New Student Convocation, Erin Tylutki (BA ’26), the president of the student body, gave a heartfelt speech to first-year and transfer students assembled on the East Quad, sharing a personal story of being diagnosed with depression and anxiety and making the difficult decision to leave Seattle to attend Loyola.  

“When I stood in your shoes almost four years ago, my mind was going a million miles a minute,” she said. “What am I doing here? I don’t have any friends. Did I just say the wrong thing? Is my fun fact about me fun enough? If you’re having any variation of those thoughts right now, congratulations. You’re right where you need to be.”  

During her time at Loyola, Tylutki grew more comfortable and self-assured, a transformation she credits to “the home I built here, the family I found here, and the Jesuit values that shape this campus.” As she told the assembled students, “Loyola gives you the tools to face your challenges head on. It gives you the people to help shoulder life’s burdens when they feel too big to carry.”