Spotlight
First Freshmen
| USF Sarasota-Manatee
Members of USFSM’s inaugural freshman class show their Bull pride at freshman orientation. Clockwise from top left: Daniel Yarke, Margarita Coronel, Roger Walser, Sarah Smith, Wesley Baugh and Kailey Fischer.
Photo by Aimee Blodgett | USF News
Sarah Bradtmueller is one reason that USF Sarasota-Manatee is making history this fall.
The talented singer, actress, basketball player, performing arts teaching assistant and top cadet at the Sarasota Military Academy is now part of USFSM’s first freshman class.
From a total of 389 applicants, USFSM offered admission to about 130 first-time college students, and as of the end of July, had enrolled 78 fresh new faces — including Sarah’s.
Sarah Bradtmueller
Photo courtesy of Sarah Bradtmueller
From the stage at Disney World to the All-America Cities Competition in Denver, Sarah brings great talent and energy to USFSM, where she plans to study elementary education and learn how to integrate music into her future classrooms. “I believe music can enhance many aspects of a child’s life, and I plan to share that knowledge with every young student that comes my way,” Bradtmueller says. “My love for children and music awaits the day it can be presented in the classroom.”
USFSM’s first freshman class boasts an average GPA of 3.59, average SAT score (reading and math) of 1093 and ACT of 24. While 79 percent of the class hails from Sarasota and Manatee Counties, the student traveling the farthest distance to USFSM attended high school in England. The youngest freshman is 16 and the oldest is 22.
With underclassmen comes an innovative general education curriculum, referred to as the Pillars of Intellectual Engagement, and a four-year, comprehensive program. The Pillars, developed by USFSM faculty, are values and skills, such as leadership, communication, ethics and community engagement, that all students should demonstrate by the time they graduate from USFSM.
Since 1974, when USF began offering limited courses in the Sarasota-Manatee area, USFSM has grown to serve more than 4,500 students annually. Until 2012, USFSM was an upper-division transfer university offering undergraduate and graduate course work leading to baccalaureate and master’s degrees. Accepting sophomores beginning in 2012, and now the first freshman class in fall 2013, signals USFSM’s major transformation to a four-year university.