Their Madison Experience will be different.

From the time they received their acceptance letters, during the thousands of journeys that converged on Interstate 81 with parents and luggage in tow, to the cheers that rocked the Convo bleachers during orientation week: This year's freshmen all knew one thing; they will make history. Four years hence, the members of the Class of 2008 will cross the graduation dais amid yearlong celebrations for James Madison University's 100th anniversary.

The Centennial Dukes are ready.

By their fourth day on campus, 50 freshmen had volunteered to document their Madison Experiences. They will write essays and diaries, share personal photos, create scrapbooks, take videos and design Web sites to involve themselves in the buildup to JMU's centennial celebration. "It's so cool that our class gets to graduate when JMU turns 100," says Caitlin Loftus ('08). "We can actually see and affect JMU history."

The Class of 2008 already has. Eighty percent of the students offered admission to JMU applied online; 77 percent were in the top 25 percent of their class; 85 percent had taken honors or advanced placement courses; 75 percent scored above 1120 on the SATs. Their Madison Experience will mirror thousands of Dukes who preceded them. This class will find lifelong friends and find themselves. They will discover a commitment to lifelong learning and challenging academics. And in their Madison Experience, the Class of 2008 will witness the construction of a new $10 million center for fine arts, dance and music, and a new chemistry and physics building with $1.6 million of brand new research and lab equipment.

The Centennial Dukes are well prepared.

Gone are the starry-eyed 18-year-olds asking for "Gibbons dining hall" and clutching campus maps like the last slice of pizza. There was a different atmosphere to this year's freshmen move-in day, as 3,288 freshmen moved into 18 residence halls all over campus. "I can't believe the energy of this class," says orientation program assistant Wesli Spencer ('07). "It's like they're already feeding off the energy of the extraordinary senior year they're going to have."

The Centennial Dukes are ready to make history.

-- Michelle Hite ('88)