College fears

By Joe Rector

Younger children are counting the last days of summer vacation before school doors open and trap them for the next nine months. Right behind them, colleges will soon begin fall semesters. Last year, 6,804 freshmen began courses of study at the University of Tennessee; about 6,250 completed the entire year, although I’m not so sure the number was that high. At any rate, a throng of “green horns” hit the campus, and for many, the time was an awakening.

I remember way back when I began college and the feelings that I had. Earlier in the summer, I’d had surgery on a bum left ankle. Orientation had been pure torture as we walked all over the rather small Tennessee Tech campus. In my mind, walking to classes and other meetings would be just as bad when I began school in the fall. People have told me that I could sue my skinny legs for nonsupport, so I thought perhaps navigating my way to different classes would be helpful in strengthening my repaired part.

Mother drove Jim and me to campus on a Sunday. I looked at the house for the last time and thought that I would never call that place my official home again. Yes, I “awfulized” going to college. Although Cookeville was only 100 miles away, I felt as if I’d crossed into a different, alien world.

Jim had been on campus for a while since he was in the marching band, but I was a total newbie. My older brother, Dallas, and his wife also attended Tech, and he was a head resident in Miller Hall, a fact that offered him an apartment. My poor sister-in-law agreed to wash my clothes and feed me a meal every evening. She was trapped, but I didn’t understand that at the time.

During mid-afternoon, Mother left for the return home. I often wondered how she felt to be a complete empty nester. Daddy had died four years earlier, and now her boys were gone. I’m sure she might have been just a little lonely, but only briefly. Her life changed as much as mine did, another thing I didn’t understand until later.

I sat in the dorm room, which Jim and I would share for only one quarter. (Then he would head home to work and marry his high school sweetheart. Only a couple of years later, he returned to earn his degree.) Jim was off somewhere doing something, and I felt miserable, alone, abandoned, dumped, and discarded. Homesickness hit as soon as Mother drove off. Eventually, I found a couple of friends from home, and we began exploring the campus on our own. Only a few minutes into our journey, we witnessed two gigantic, moronic Tech football players on the other side of the street. They accosted a guy, who had to be another freshman, and yelled at him for walking on their sidewalk. Then, those two guys thumped this scared little guy. I gave thought to calling home for a ride back to Knoxville.

Figuring out a schedule that would work took forever, and I changed courses when they clashed with another’s time slot or were already filled. Eventually, things worked out. The standard required courses filled my day, although I scheduled as many as possible for the early morning. I never had a problem with rising early, and an afternoon nap after classes would tide me over until evening when I studied.

My budget was tight. Mother worked as a teacher to put us through college. She never made more than $10,000, and I still don’t know how she did all things on so little money. I had $25 a week to spend on what I needed. For the first time in my life, I had a checkbook to pay for things. Only during my senior year did I mess up when I recorded a deposit twice.  I rented a small refrigerator from the university, and in it I kept bologna, mayonnaise and a gallon pitcher of tea. Sometimes I would eat with a group at one of the restaurants around campus. Most Friday nights, I bought hamburgers or Chuckwagon sandwiches for Dal, Brenda and me.

During that first quarter, Jim destroyed his knee when he and I played touch football against two other freshmen. I missed classes to take him to the doctor. I met a girl named Jacque, who was from Donaldson, Tennessee, and we dated until the end of the term. Her boyfriend, George, was a lineman for the MTSU Raiders, and he made a trip one evening to Cookeville with the express intention of beating me up. He never found me. Jacque went home for the Christmas holidays, and I never saw her again.

Yes, I did survive that first year of college, and to tell the truth, those years at TTU were the best years of my life. High school is in no way comparable to college. Parents, know that your “babies” will probably be homesick and lonely. They’ll do some dumb stuff, but they will also learn valuable lessons about life. Don’t hover. You’ve done all you can do, and now it is time for your freshmen to venture out to see what the world holds. I feel for you. I’ve sent my own children away. It will be okay, even good. Hang in there.