Feels Like Home: Homecoming 2011

I love working at my alma mater. I also loved going to school there, it was a great experience. One of the things I really adore about this place, is the history I feel to it because of my family. My Dad was a graduate of this school, as were his brother and one of his sisters. My younger cousin was a freshmen when I was a senior. My great-uncle and my grandmother both graduated from there. I love that we all have that connection.

A story that most of my students’ love is the fact that I lived in the exact same residence hall room my freshmen year that my Grandma Pat lived in when she was a freshmen! It was a very random occurrence, was not planned at all and the only reason we were able to figure it out was because of the proximity of the room to the phone booth. Back in the day they didn’t have phones in each room or cell phones, so all the calls for the whole floor came in to the hall phone… which was across the hall from our room. It didn’t have a phone in it when I was there, but the booth was still in place!

A graduate student in University Housing had heard this story about us living in the same room, so she reached out to me to see if my Grandmother would be willing to come and talk to the students in the residence hall about the what it was like then as compared to now. They slated it for Homecoming Week and that is how I ended up spending last Wednesday evening very late on campus hanging out with my super cool Grandma Pat and about 30 freshmen women. They were actually quite fascinated with her and what it was like on campus fifty plus years ago. My Grandmother had them in the palm of her hand, it was so cool of her to volunteer her evening like that. But listed below are some of the things that the ladies of the residence hall (all female halls) just couldn’t get over:

• They were only allowed to wear shorts when going to gym class. Even then they had to wear rain jackets over their outfits when going to class!
• Men were not allowed one step past the lobby.
• Curfew on weeknights was 10pm. It was 11pm on weekends. If you missed curfew you were out of luck and locked out!
• Each building had a house mom. If she thought your date picking you up was rude or intoxicated she would stop them from leaving the building!
• Classes were Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Then Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday! Yes, they had classes on Saturday, but they let them out by noon.
• One phone in the hall for all the residents. Hopefully people took good messages if you were out.
• Tailgating didn’t really exist yet among the student crowd. And adults didn’t do it at all like they do today.
• The stadium wasn’t nearly as big.
• NO AIR CONDITIOMNING in the residence halls or classrooms. (I’m not sure I could have made it).

There were other things, but those were some of the highlights. Love that she was willing to do that, love that I got to be there, love that I work at a place that feels like home!

Me and my Grandma Pat. Circa 1983