UC Merced Magazine | Commemorative Chronicle

On a Tuesday morning in August, Jasmin Cerna reached that gateway. Days a er moving into her residence hall, she and a crowd of other new Bobcats had been drenched by an unexpected cloudburst that unloaded on the on the Scholars Bridge Crossing ceremony. e Menlo Park resident’s pursuit of a psychology degree would start the next day. Sheltering outside a classroom building, Cerna smiled while recounting some of the negative online comments she’d read about her chosen university. She laughed, her roots already starting to grow. “Truly,” she said, “my rst three days here have been some of the most exciting of my life.” From a seed.

August 26, 2025 — Rooted in tradition, the incoming class of rst-year students were welcomed during the annual Scholars Bridge Crossing — the rst tradition established when the inaugural class arrived in 2005. Celebrating another rst, the 20th academic year started with a bang as students were greeted by the roar and downpour of an unexpected thunderstorm.

UCMERCED MAGAZINE 12