Alabamaâs huge freshman class forms massive âScript Aâ on Bryant-Denny field
Alabama’s massive fall 2023 freshman class touched the Bryant-Denny Stadium grass before the Crimson Tide football team and their opponents even could this semester, as the students gathered for the annual “Script A” photo at midfield.
The “Script A” tradition allowed freshmen to take an official class of 2027 photo on field the night before their first day of college classes.
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“I hope students take away from this event, 1) maybe they know a little bit more about UA than they did before,” said Paige Acker, Director of University Programs on campus. “We’ve got speakers who are going to be sharing things, different things going on on the jumbotron. And then, I think the biggest thing, I hope they meet someone they didn’t know. They are standing next to someone on the field during a picture, and then they see them in class or on the Quad next week. It just kind of helps make campus feel a little bit smaller when they feel like they’re part of something a little bit bigger.”
Students began the fall 2023 semester Wednesday, cruising campus as temperatures exceeded 100 degrees.
The “Script A” covered about one-third of the 100-yard field, which will see its first game of the 2023 season played Saturday, Sept. 2 when the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders visit Tuscaloosa.
Most of the students are wearing white “Week of Welcome” T-shirts to fill in the red outline (with students wearing red T-shirts).
They took the photo Tuesday evening at 6 p.m., as students entered through gates 13-17. They heard from UA president Stuart Bell, current SGA president Collier Dobbs, Alabama athletics coaches and others.
Bell told AL.com last week UA expects to break records in freshman and overall enrollment for the fall semester in Tuscaloosa. The enrollment numbers will be finalized in a few weeks. He said last year’s freshman class was 8,037 students, and overall enrollment was 38,645 (with 5,918 of those students participating in online learning).
The annual “Script A” tradition lets University of Alabama freshman take a class photo on the Bryant-Denny Stadium field the night before their first day of college classes. (Courtesy of University of Alabama)