It was a clear and beautiful Saturday morning, in September 1988, my brother and I packed up our late model Ford with everything needed to survive a year away at college. As we backed out of the driveway I looked up to see tears streaming down my mother's face as she stood on the porch waving as her two oldest sons drove away to college. For my brother it was his second year, this was my first venture away from home.
The drive to Cedar City seemed to take forever, as I couldn't wait to establish myself and become the independent "adult" I knew college life would provide for me. Once we finally arrived we pulled up to College Park, it was even better than what it had appeared in my previous Cedar City trips. There were tennis courts in the back-yard and it was across the street from the football stadium. This had to be the hub of all college life. We hunted down the apartment manager, paid the rent for our first quarter, picked up our keys and started moving in. Being the first renter to move in, we had the pick of rooms. I quickly unpacked and soon my roommates and neighbors began to show up. I busied myself the rest of the day helping my new friends get settled into their apartments.
The following week brought Welcome Week and Freshman Orientation. All of my roommates had been at
SUU for at least a year and they encouraged me to skip the events. I later found this to be a mistake as the Welcome Week activities are a great way to meet new people.
Finally, the first day of classes arrived. I walked the block from my apartment to the
Centrum. As I stepped in Psychology 101 taught by Les Jones I quickly scoured the room for a familiar face; seeing no one, I soon settled on what looked to be a friendly face. I climbed the stairs and asked if the seat was taken. With a smile on her face, she told me it was empty, I sat down and quickly played the "get to know you game" before Professor Jones started class. After 45 minutes of syllabus review, class discussion, question & answer time and even a bit of an introductory lecture, class was dismissed. I repeated the same activity multiple times that day, in Old Main, the Business Building, and the General Classroom Building.
After a full day of classes I walked back to my apartment, exhausted. Little did I know that day was my first day of self-discovery. While at
SUU I would learn discipline, I grew socially, and emotionally, I gained respect for others as well as myself. I was provided opportunities to serve in Student Government, was a member of a Fraternity, gave campus tours as a Presidential Ambassador and traveled to Los Angeles and Orlando with
PBL. Yes,
SUU provided me opportunities and experiences that I would never even have imagined on that first day. Yes, the best was still yet to come.
"Glory Days" is a recurring post by Clinton Painter, a 1994 alumnus with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting.
The Thunderbird Gymnastics team upset the NCAA defending national champion UCLA Bruins 194.750 - 194.425 in front of a home crowd of more than 5,000 in the Centrum on Friday, January 14.
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