In Review

Slightly more than 1,500 undergraduates arrived at Rochester this fall to fill out the Class of 2023.

In the College, a total of 1,396 students from 44 states and 65 countries are starting their first year. The class was drawn from more than 21,000 applications.

The Eastman School of Music welcomed 130 first-year students from 35 states and eight countries.

Here’s a brief introduction to a few of those students.

Sanaa Finley ’23

Ocean, New Jersey
Major plans: Audio and Music Engineering
The first in her family to attend college, Finley is looking forward to combining her love of music—she plays drums, bass guitar, and ukulele—with her interest in engineering and technology. “I just want to know how everything works,” she says. A KRFrench Scholar who took part in Rochester’s Early Connection Opportunity program last summer, she joined the University pep band and Wind Symphony this fall and looks forward to classes in music theory as well as African drumming.

Fernanda Sesto ’23

El Pinar, Uruguay
Major plans: Computer Science
Sesto’s goal is to use the power of technology to work toward social equality. Growing up in Uruguay, she saw firsthand why that’s important. She founded a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching computer science to poor children. And for three years, she was the only woman student at her high school, which specialized in computer science. “It was very challenging at first, and something I had to get used to,” she says. “But I learned a lot and consider myself to be very empowered.”

James Bentayou ’23

Coconut Creek, Florida
Major plans: Political Science
A South Florida native, Bentayou grew up not far from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were killed in a mass shooting in 2018. A junior at the time, he says he realized that “politics matter” in making social change. That helped spur his interest in studying political science this fall. He was a running back on the Yellowjackets football team and also plans to pursue his interest in acting. “I like to stay active,” he says.

Siera Sadowski ’23

Dallas via Buffalo and Las Vegas
Major plans: English and International Relations
Sadowski handled some difficult times on her way to the University. Living in a transient home environment, she was buoyed by her pursuit of writing, literature, and languages as well as the support of her father and others close to her. She’s the first in her family to go to college. A Handler Scholar and a GRADE Scholar at the University, she aims to get involved in the Rochester community. “I feel in my soul that I need to help contribute to the solution.”

Jafrè Chase ’23E

Baltimore
Major plans: Viola Performance
Introduced to the viola in fourth grade, Chase has found solace in music for much of his life, especially when his family lived out of a Salvation Army–run shelter in Baltimore. The family eventually found a permanent home, and Chase never stopped practicing the viola. He graduated from Baltimore’s School for the Arts, and this fall, he’s a Lois C. Rogers Scholar at the Eastman School of Music. “I would like to give back in some way,” he says. “I feel that if you’ve been given a lot, you should also give back a lot.”