Enfield High School's Top Pair for 2016 Ready for Historic UConn Freshman Class

STORRS, CT — Enfield High School's top two students from the Class of 2016 will be part of the "most diverse" incoming freshman class in the history of the University of Connecticut when classes start Monday, UConn officials said.

About 5,100 freshmen will be starting classes at the University of Connecticut on Monday, including a record number of about 3,800 at the Storrs campus.

The Class of 2020 is the "most diverse freshman class" in UConn’s history and has the largest number of valedictorians and salutatorians —181 — of any prior freshman class, university officials said.

"UConn’s class of 2020 is academically exceptional, very diverse, and highly ambitious,” UConn President Susan Herbst said. “UConn is keeping great students here in Connecticut and drawing many other outstanding students from across the nation and the globe to our state. They are the leaders and citizens of tomorrow, and are in many ways the return on the remarkable and transformative investments the state of Connecticut has made in UConn.”

Here are a few facts about the UConn Class of 2020:

• The average SAT score is 1233 and among Honors Program students, it is 1402.
• A record high of 156 valedictorians and salutatorians are enrolled at Storrs, plus 25 more at UConn’s regional campuses.
• Nine of every 10 valedictorians and salutatorians come from Connecticut.
• 37 percent of the new freshmen come from minority backgrounds, a record high.
• 71 percent of the freshmen are Connecticut natives.
• Students come from 164 Connecticut municipalities, 44 states, Puerto Rico and 22 countries.
• The five towns not represented are Colebrook, Eastford, Hartland, Sterling and Warren.
• Incoming freshmen competed in a record-high field of about 36,000 applications.
• Many are among the 12,600 students moving into Storrs dorms in coming days.

In all, about 23,600 undergraduate students are set to resume classes Monday, with about 19,000 based at Storrs, university officials said.

Overall, 80 percent of UConn’s undergraduate students are from Connecticut, including the majority of the 1,100 students transferring to UConn this fall from other college and universities, university officials said.

Read more about the top two EHS students from the Class of 2016 here.

Photo Credit: Enfield High School