The 2019-20 academic year at Culver-Stockton College is about to get under way as the school prepares for students to start arriving on campus this week. The incoming class of 2023 will be formally welcomed later this month during a weekend busy with events, most notably the formal matriculation and the college’s largest service project.

The first wave of students will be in Canton on Friday, Aug. 9 when the players on the women’s volleyball team and the men’s and women’s soccer teams check in at 10 a.m. at the J.E. & L.E. Mabee Recreation and Wellness Center. The players on the football team will check in at 1 p.m., and an official welcome for the students will be at 4:30 p.m. at the Alexander Campbell Auditorium in the Robert W. Brown Performing Arts Center.

International students will have an orientation day on Thursday, Aug. 22, and all other freshmen students will check in at the Mabee Center at 9 a.m. and move into campus residences on Friday, Aug. 23.

The kickoff to orientation begins at the Performing Arts Center at 2 p.m. Friday, and matriculation begins on the steps of Johnson Residence Hall at 2:45 p.m. During that ceremony, bagpipers and a faculty procession lead the incoming freshman class across campus. The new students meet President Kelly M. Thompson at Johnson Hall and sign their names in the C-SC’s Matriculation Book. Ronald Leftwich ’64, chairman of the Board of Trustees, will present each new student with a penny to cast into the fountain on the quad with their wish for their college careers.

An evening of orientation events will end with an event featuring hypnotist William Mitchell ’79 at 7:45 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center.

Students will take part on Saturday, Aug. 24 in the Everybody Doing More (formerly known as Extreme Dome Makeover) service project. The 11^th annual event starts at 10 a.m. and will take place at about 20 locations around Canton and Lewis County. It will end with lunch for the groups of students at various locations. The women’s soccer team will play the first athletic game on campus this season at 6 p.m. at Ellison Poulton Stadium.

Returning students will move in on Sunday, Aug. 25. A “Welcome Back” barbecue and concert will be at 5 p.m. in the courtyard of the Gladys Crown Student Center. Classes will begin on Monday, Aug. 26.

All students, faculty and staff will gather at the auditorium in the Performing Arts Center for the opening convocation, led by Thompson, at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29.

The first men’s soccer game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30, and the football team’s season opener is scheduled for 6 p.m. against Baker University on Saturday, Aug. 31.