The rich history of Wheaton, and the ways in which the institution’s past informs its present, served as the theme for the 173rd Opening Convocation ceremony held in Cole Memorial Chapel on Wednesday, Aug.

More than 400 first-year Wheaton College students will spend September and October engaged in community service projects in Norton, Attleboro, Taunton and Boston.

The Wheaton College Department of Athletics has announced a partnership with Norton Community Television and student-run campus radio station WCCS-FM 96. 5 to broadcast a number of the school’s athletic events over the course of the academic year.

Wheaton welcomed 440 new students to campus in August. Nearly 4,000 high school students had applied for spots in the Class of 2011, the most applications Wheaton has ever received, and only 39 percent were offered admission.

Friends and supporters of Wheaton College contributed a record-setting $34.7 million in gifts and pledges during 2006-2007, while hundreds of volunteers invested their time and talent in service to the college.

In spite of our national obsession with food and diet, few of us truly think about the food on our plates, and how it got there. This summer, Wheaton’s incoming freshmen are thinking about just that, as they tackle their summer reading assignment, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan.