Incoming students use Instagram to connect with each other 

Members of the Class of 2025 have been getting acquainted.

Andrew Ophardt ’25 lives in Webster, a town 15 minutes from the University of Rochester. He wants to study chemistry, has a dog named Duke, and shares that “Hufflepuff is my Hogwarts house.”

Kevin Bibiano ’25 was raised 3,000 miles away, near San Diego, and his interests include “music, soccer, and getting to know other people and places.”

The two are among nearly 400 incoming students from the University’s Class of 2025 who have shared photos, hobbies, interests, and experiences on the Instagram page urochester.2025. Created by Maveline Nguyen ’25, a first-year student from Hanoi, Vietnam, it has almost 1,400 followers and has been a pathway for members of the University’s newest class to bond during a global pandemic.

“I started this page March 25, a day after I my acceptance to the University,” says Nguyen, who had remained anonymous until revealing her identity on the page last weekend. “I thought the idea was really cool. It helps incoming students connect with each other on one of the most popular social media platforms with teenagers and young adults.”

Nguyen is well-traveled. She graduated high school in Australia and has lived in America, New Guinea, and Ethiopia. A lover of food, coffee, berets, and black boots, she plans to major in molecular genetics at Rochester. She said the Instagram page has “transcended all of my expectations and is more successful than I could ever dream of.”

Nguyen gave a recent interview to the Campus Times, under the name “Maverick.”

Ophardt says the Instagram page has been a blessing, since COVID-19 regulations have hampered in-person contact. “It gave me some early contacts to be able to talk to about the University,” he says.

Bibiano decided to share his photo and his hobbies to meet his future classmates and familiarize himself with the Rochester community before arriving on campus this week.

Izabella Gozzo ’25E, who is from Brooklyn, New York, says she is “super excited” to begin classes at the Eastman School of Music next week. She shared her photo and bio on the Eastman School Instagram account and says, “It’s been amazing reading the backgrounds of my fellow classmates.”