The 'Shmen are Coming!

For the last week, I have been composing the perfect "Top Ten Stupid Things Asked By Freshman" post for your enjoyment and my santity. Seriously, I've gotten everything from "I thought the government would just give me money, I didn't realize there was an application process involved" to "Can I bring my dog to the dorms with me? The policy says pets in glass tanks are OK, so he can sleep in one if he needs to". Mind you I work in Outreach. PRE-Admission Outreach. This means I am not versed in the logistics of the policy of dogs sleeping in fishtanks and the like.

Having worked on this campus for last 4 years, I am usually able to direct the student with a serious mental lapse customer to the right office, but when this happens 30-50 times a day, it starts to get the best of you. So my list. It was going to be a good one.

However, I just got back from walking around campus on this, the day before classes start for our 148th year (bet you didn't know San Jose State is the oldest public school in CA, eh?), and once again I learned an invaluable lesson working here. I passed a number of groups of 'shmen (that's short for Freshman) around campus on my lunch hour; huddled around the campus kiosks trying to locate the building that Psych 001 is located in, unpacking boxes from the back of their parent's minivan in front of the dorms (no dogs), eagerly wandering the bookstore looking their first SJSU letter-sweatshirt.

Maybe my first-day-of-college experience had gotten so far behind me that I was becoming the very campus employee I used to despise in my undergrad days. Seeing all this seriously brought the biggest smile to my face as I imagined all the things these kids young adults were going through. I mean this is college! The first day of the rest of their lives! Even Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac once walked this campus as first-time students!!


So I am changing my tune. It made me remember why I have one of the best jobs in the world. How cool is it that I have the ability to bring someone to our University and in some way, have influenced all that excitiment in their faces? Very cool.

If any of you out there have kids that are just starting out in college this year, I wish you the best of luck on the next 6 4 years. I'm off to answer more phone calls...

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PS - Why didn't someone tell me that Rowan Calmer is like, THE best yarn in the world? Seriously. I LOOOOVE it. Damn you $10 a ball...