University of Texas at Arlington holds drive-thru event to raise spirits of incoming freshman

It was the first time UTA has held such an event, where school leaders safely distributed giveaways in cars and hope to raise spirits with a DJ, balloons and cheering student leaders.

ARLINGTON, Texas - The University of Texas at Arlington held a special drive-thru event on Tuesday for its newest freshmen.

University officials say they know it’s been a tough year for graduating high school seniors and they want to get them excited for their freshman year of college, even if it might look different this fall.

It was the first time UTA has held such an event, where school leaders safely distributed giveaways in cars and hope to raise spirits with a DJ, balloons and cheering student leaders.

The high school grads who attended the event admitted the past few months have been tough.

“We just found out today our prom was cancelled, I was really excited for that,” said Brianna Potts, incoming UTA freshman.

“It makes me feel sad, I just wanted my family to be there when I cross the stage, seeing such a huge accomplishment,” Analidia Flores, incoming UTA freshman.

Flores plans to study architecture at UTA. But, there’s a lot of uncertainty around the upcoming fall semester for incoming freshmen and the rest of the students.

“Excited to start, but everything’s kind of complicated on whether I’m staying on campus. Is it going to be online or are we actually going to have classes on campus?” Flores wondered.

Classes will continue online through the summer. The university is still deciding how to handle on campus living and freshman orientation -- things that help shape a typical freshman year.

“We’re always engaged in planning for that, and in fact on a weekly basis we have regular meetings with the executive team to discuss the plans and how things are shaping up based on what we know, and what we learn from the state and what we learn from the federal government,” said Dr. Troy Johnson, UTA VP of Enrollment Management.

Johnson encouraged the incoming freshman class to try and not worry.

University officials haven’t announced a plan for what will happen this fall, whether they’ll be doing online or in-person classes or a mixture of the two.