SOAR - 2006 Summer Orientation and Academic Registration

What a busy couple of days we spent in Evansville. We left home Thursday around 10:00, which was the game plan. It's a 600-mile round trip. Factoring in a gas stop, a lunch stop, and a rest area stop, it took about 6 hours. Our first stop was on campus to find out where David was bunking. We delivered his gear to his room and then left campus to locate our motel and unload our gear. We all then had supper at Smokey Bones, which was very good and only just a wee bit on the pricey side. After supper it was back to the campus with David, as the evening "mixer" activities were scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Friday morning we met back up for the first session after breakfast. We had to call David on the cell phone to see where he was. We finally found him and discovered he had not saved any places for us and was sitting with his new friends. His first words were, "Do you mind if I don't go to supper with you?" It seemed that one of his new friends had a car and they had all made plans to go to the mall for supper. So much for any worries that David might not make any friends. Not only that, but his friends were Eric, Ashley, Autumn, Heather and . . . Do you notice a trend there? I think Ashley was definitely the leader of the group, as later on she was the one insisting that David and Eric WERE going to the evening dance.

After the first opening session, we parted ways with David. His schedule sent him to various placement tests (David had to take the math placement test) and then several interest sessions and to the security building to get his student I.D. We parents could chose 3 of 5 different sessions in the morning and then 3 of 5 different sessions in the afternoon. We did meet back up with David once in the afternoon when we attended the Harlaxton College Overseas Exchange Program session. At 3:15 we met up again for the beginning of the Academic Registration session for a short time. Then the students went to meet with their advisors and we parents got to listen to a long session titled "Letting Go" given by the Dean of Students Dana Clayton. After all this, we did get a two-hour break for dinner on our own, then to meet back for another session in the evening. And then the Dessert Reception (loads and loads of ice cream) where we did get to see David again for a brief bit! Then we went to our motel room and David went on to the Student Dance and to play Snooker in the Underground (modeled after a London Pub).

Saturday morning we did meet back up for breakfast on campus and a brief session together again. Then the students went on to receive the results of their placement tests and to register for their fall classes. The Engineering department (of which Computer Science is a part) had given their students all the scheduling info they needed (class numbers, times, etc.) and so David was able to complete the registration process fairly quickly and painlessly. Bill and I finally finished our last sessions about 10:30. We found David outside the registration area and then headed to the Bookstore and Smoothie Shoppe with two of his new friends. By the time we covered all those bases, got back to his dorm, packed up and checked him out, and loaded up the car, it was after noon. The trip home was uneventful, but long, long, long. Everyone was tired. I know we've rested a lot today, just recovering from the previous three days. In fact, I think I'll head for bed and finish this up tomorrow!