No. 36, please step forward

Flyer families are not uncommon. Every year, the University welcomes new students who have been inspired by the stories of their grandparents’ first dates in Kennedy Union or their cousin’s vivid descriptions of basketball games. First-year student Bianca Reagan was influenced in a similar way, but her list of UD relatives is longer than most. It might even require a diagram.

Bianca’s mother, Kay Fullenkamp Reagan ’85, is the youngest of 13 children and the ninth to attend UD. Each Fullenkamp sibling had his or her own children, thus adding to the Flyer diploma count. Now, as the youngest grandchild, Bianca will be the 36th degree to come from the University.

At first, Bianca resisted the possibility of following in her family’s footsteps, but after a campus visit, she changed her mind.

“I was like, ‘I’ll visit, Mom, but I’m not going. Everybody went.’ And then I got here. Just [through] touring and the sense of community, I started to see my four years here. I was like, ‘Well, I guess I’m going with the Fullenkamp genes,’” Bianca said.

According to Kay, she and her siblings initially attended UD because of their father. He recognized that his children could earn an education based on Catholic ideals.

“All of my brothers keep saying, ‘You’d think they’d name a building after Dad — Fullenkamp Hall,’” Kay laughed.

Although it has been at least five years since a family member was a student, the whole Fullenkamp clan is taking interest in Bianca’s upcoming four years at UD. Her cousins shared some of their wisdom.

“They said, ‘Don’t get Humanities green syndrome,’” Bianca said, referencing the clumps of students that form in Humanities Plaza after difficult exams. According to her cousins, those conversations only lead to more anxiety.

Even though Bianca has been on campus less than a week, her aunts and uncles are already comparing Bianca’s time at UD to their own. Last Friday, Kay posted a photo of Bianca moving into Founders Hall. As expected, their relatives weighed in.

“[Founders] used to be an all-boys dorm, and it would house the athletes. All my uncles were like, ‘I lived there. Girls? What are they doing there?’” shared Bianca. 

As Bianca begins her college journey, she has two UD families supporting her — the Fullenkamps, and now, her new on-campus family.