SOME 8,005 elementary, high school, and college students troop to school today as the university opens classes for School Year 2006-2007.

Based on unofficial enrollment figures reported by the Office of Admissions and University Registrar as of June 9, at least 6,859 college students are expected to report to their classes in the different colleges of the university excluding the Graduate School.

A total of 244 students are also expected to flock to their classes at the university’s science high school in Batac while 249 are set to troop the laboratory high school in Laoag. At least 500 pupils have also been admitted in the laboratory elementary school, also in Laoag. Kindergarten and nursery enrolment figures in Laoag and Batac have reached 153 as of press time.

Meanwhile, a mass and a program have been set today, June 13, 8:30 a.m. at the Teatro Ilocandia, to welcome freshmen and transferees.

Rev. Fr. Rock N. Bonoan of the Divine Mercy Parish in Brgy. Pila, Laoag City has been invited to celebrate the mass before the opening program at 9 a.m. Prof. Henedine A. Aguinaldo, chief of student organizations and publications of the Office of Student Services and Development (OSSD), will formally welcome the new students in the university.

Dr. Wilma C. Natividad, dean of the College of Arts and Science and acting vice president for academic affairs, will introduce President Miriam E. Pascua who will address the students.

NASUDI, MMSU’s premier cultural group, will show the new “iskolars ng bayan” the finery of talents in the university. After this, Prof. Vicente L. Trinidad, OSSD director, will present officials of the university.

Prof. Divina M. Cayabyab, chief of OSSD’s student financial assistance and scholarship division, will formally close the program.

In the afternoon, all freshmen and transferees in the Batac campus will proceed to their respective colleges for an orientation program, 1-4:30 p.m. The colleges of teacher education and industrial technology in Laoag will hold their respective orientation programs tomorrow, June 14. The College of Aquatic Sciences and Applied Technology in Currimao is scheduled to hold the same program on June 15.