2,400 new students start their UC Merced journey

It's back to school for thousands of students at UC Merced.

This year has the largest incoming class in the university's history with about 2,400 new students.

Two new building have also opened on campus.

"There's always jitters with the first day of school," says Gabriella, a student.

"I never thought that I would come to college in the first place. A lot of the students here are first gen like me. it's really inspiring to see all the money and hard work that's being poured into our school and the opportunities we're getting."

Phase 2 of the Merced 2020 expansion project on the campus opened to students on Wednesday, including a new arts and computational science building and a sustainability research and engineering building

"It just makes instruction that much better in terms of learning and getting accessible information," Gabriella says.

Another change this year? The new interim chancellor Nathan Brostrom.

He's been part of the UC family for 15 years and started at UC Berkeley before joining the staff at UC Merced.

"I'm eating on campus, I live at the pavilion, I work out with the students. I'm really enjoying the vibrancy of campus," he said.

One adjustment for Chancellor Brostrom? Living back in the dorms...

"I'm early to bed, early to rise so. We'll see when the noise starts now, how that works," he said.

For now he's focused on making sure the Merced 2020 expansion project enriches the students college experience.