Signing up for your final semester of college classes is sentimental enough, but making school history while you’re doing it?

Why, that’s downright tearjerking.

So Serhiy Horokhovskyy thought when a Union College official called Tuesday to let him know he had been the 1,000th student to register for fall classes this year, a milestone the school hadn’t reached in 24 years.

Horokhovskyy, a Ukraine native majoring in religion, could do little more than pump his chest and point to the heavens when he heard the news.

“I was crazy happy,” the 24-year-old said. “It’s my senior year, and it’s kind of cool to be part of something awesome.”

His accidental achievement was cause for celebration.

On Wednesday, Union offered free lunches and ice cream to all students and faculty to honor the 1,000-student mark, the result of an aggressive recruiting drive the school launched after enrollment dipped to the 500s in the 1990s.

When registration ended Tuesday, enrollment for the Seventh-day Adventist school stood at 1,015.

Wednesday’s outdoor party featured salad and bread, Union officials and student leaders and, of course, a rousing rendition of the school song, “Slinga de Ink.”

“We’ve gotten more creative and aggressive (in our marketing),” said Union President David Smith. “We’re excited about the enrollment, but we’re far more excited about the students themselves.”

It’s hardly surprising this year’s 1,000th student hails from abroad: A whopping 80 percent of Union College students are from outside Nebraska, a figure far higher than at other state colleges and a source of pride for Union leaders, who believe the school is contributing to “brain gain” rather than the much-maligned “brain drain.”

Of the out-of-state students, more than one in five stay in Nebraska after graduation, boosting the state’s economy and diversity, Smith said.

“By the time they graduate, they want to stay here,” he said. “It grows on them.”

And why are more students coming to Union in the first place?

Simple, Smith said: They want a close-knit campus, a Christian learning environment and eye-catching academic offerings such as Union’s new International Rescue & Relief program, which takes students abroad and trains them in medicine, humanitarianism and disaster relief.

Union also recently has expanded its nursing and physician assistant programs, helping to attract even more students, said Rob Weaver, vice president of enrollment and student financial services.

And when those students leave happy, they send their sisters, brothers, friends, cousins, etc.

“We’re creating some momentum, and that’s good,” Weaver said.

Union had passed the 1,000-students mark in 1983, but enrollment dropped sharply soon after that, when the school encountered financial troubles and couldn’t sustain such a large student body, Smith said.

By the mid-1990s, enrollment had fallen to the 500s as Union worked, slowly but steadily, to eliminate its debts.

That finally has happened, and Smith couldn’t be happier.

He now is shooting for about 1,100 students and will share plans for at least one major construction undertaking on campus — a state-of-the-art science, math and nursing building that will better equip Union’s growing programs.

Construction should begin in the next few years, Smith said.

Horokhovskyy, meanwhile, may count himself as one of Union’s imports to Nebraska: If he stays in the United States after he graduates in December, he’s “99.9 percent sure” he’ll choose Lincoln.

The fact that he’s a bit of a celebrity now around the Capital City surely can’t hurt.

“I’m ready to sign autographs,” he joked before being applauded by his peers.

“It’s a happy day for everyone.”

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.