Every day you can see progress at the north entrance to campus at the site of Farrell Hall, our new business building. Over the past several days, they have created curbs along the front side of the street that borders the building. They are diligently laying bricks along the sidewalk, and smoothing the ground for what will eventually be grass and other landscaping.
Speaking of landscaping, it is gorgeous right now on the Quad. In the flowerbeds near both Reynolda Hall and Wait Chapel, there are profusions of red and purple and yellow flowers. They are absolutely gorgeous. We have some large, large hydrangeas that appear to be hurting a little bit from the days that were hot, and the deluge of rain we had this past Saturday. Still, it is lovely.
Campus this Sunday was an interesting mix of adults exercising, kids running in the grassy areas or swinging on the Scales/Davis Field swings, and summer campers lugging suitcases from check-in to residence halls. Soon enough the new students will arrive and campus will be full of energy.
Speaking of new students, they received access to their roommate and residence hall assignments this weekend. Getting a new roommate is always a bit exciting but maybe also a little scary – as I suspect most of our students have never shared a room. If you are the parent of a new student, please urge your student to reach out and make contact with his/her roommate soon, and let the voice to voice (or text to text) conversations begin. It’s important to develop a good relationship with the roommate from the earliest point you can – and doing it in person (or virtually) is infinitely preferable to scouring Facebook and Google and other sites for information about the new roommate – and maybe coming to conclusions that are not correct.
This is also a good time to remind your own student that he or she is creating an online brand with every picture he or she posts, with every statement he or she makes online. How you represent yourself at 17 or 18 may not seem to be a big deal, but some of those images and statements can linger a loooonng time and have consequences.
