A student studies at a laptop in an outdoor seating area in front of palm trees as sun shines through the clouds

Motivation That's More than Mid: Insights from UNLV Students

As the weather starts to finally feel like fall, students give their take on the UNLV experience.

Computer science sophomore Jade Ngo on the first day of the fall semester 2025. (Josh Hawkins/UNLV) 

Is there a way to bottle up that energy from the first day of classes for the rest of the semester? The feeling of excitement and hope that comes with the start of something new? 

Now that we are just over a month into a record-breaking fall semester at UNLV and it’s actually starting to feel like fall in Las Vegas, it’s time for some mid-semester motivation to propel our more than 33,000 Rebels through to Fall Commencement. 

And while we try to find a researcher to work on the energy-bottling process, here’s the next best thing: UNLV students sharing how they’ve been tackling their studies and what they've been enjoying about the college experience. 

Photos by Josh Hawkins

Coursework: Check (mate)

Two students play chess in a crowded student union

Preparing for a semester of checking off assignments (or opponents), psychology major Nima Motamedi and nursing major Christian Kevin are trying to spend some time upping their chess game – and aiming for good grades on their courses, too.  

On the first few days of classes: “I'm not going to lie, I really enjoyed it. I feel like I'm noticing more things than I used to and I'm having fun, even though I don't know it all yet,” Motamedi shares. 

A Fresh Take on the Term 

A collage of four images showing students sitting together at an outdoor table laughing and smiing
Top left, from left: Josephine Ann Smith, Madeline Millican, Mehaliye Abate, and Quintin Stanley meet up to chat before classes start. Top right: Madeline Millican; Bottom left: Mehaliye Abate; Bottom right: Josephine Ann Smith, Madeline Millican, Mehaliye Abate

If the energy at the start of a semester can be bottled, first-year students would know how to do it. The possibilities are endless, according to first-year criminal justice major Quinton Stanley. “I’m looking forward to the freedom to have some fun and meet some new people, and see where it takes me,” he shares. 

But there’s more to it than just getting involved, at least for Madeline Millican, criminal justice and communications major, “I've kind of fallen in love with the campus, and it's amazing library.
I will say the library is the most amazing thing ever to me. Even sitting in a little room and studying for hours and getting lost in the books — I love that.” 

Getting an Early Start 

Laurencia Bonsu studies on a laptop outside while wearing pink headphones

Laurencia Bonsu is in her fourth year of a Ph.D. program in global environmental health, and she was already putting in the work before the semester even started. After finishing her oral exam and getting one step closer to completing her Ph.D., she’s now preparing for a visit to her home country of Ghana to finish her dissertation on heavy metal analysis in water sources. 

Dialed In

Kathleen Baldonado sits at a computer in a library, listening with Airpods in her ears

As a transfer student from the Philippines, Kathleen Baldonado is going to be soaking up pretty much all that UNLV has to offer. But when it comes to her courses, one in particular is already standing out as an early favorite: interpersonal communication. “I’m enjoying the professor so far; she focuses on long distance communication, which I’m doing with everyone in my life, so it’s very fun.” (Taught by Jenny Farrell in the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs.) 

10/10, No Notes

Kalia Oozco lays on the grass while scrolling a phone

In a (hopefully not brief) moment of positivity, Kalia Oozco bravely gave the fall semester a “10/10, really nice” score when predicting how she thought it would go. Of course, that was on the first day of classes, but that’s the right attitude to have for a first-year biochemistry student. 

Topics:

students

Campus Units:

Greenspun College of Urban Affairs,  College of Sciences,  School of Public Health

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