freshman college memories-olivet

College Living


Olivet Nazarene University was my dream college. I knew that the minute I picked up the brochure that I found in a "college connector" magazine during seventh period study hall my junior year of high school. January 18, 2005, I found out that I had been accepted. June 15, 2005, I visited the school for the first time during "new student orientation weekend" and August 24, 2005 was my first day of class. I can't think of a better place to begin "adulthood"-the school was everything I dreamed it would be and more. I left after my freshman year (a decision I long regretted, though I have made peace with my choice) due to lack of scholarship funds, but I will always remember it as being a place of values, knowledge, faith, and fun.

Parrott Hall-Room 309 (see faint yellow circle in photo-click on photo to enlarge). My first "home-away-from-home". I will say, Olivet's dorms were pretty sparse, even by my low-class standards: white cinder block walls, halls carpeted in 1970's orange, and pale blue tiles in the bathroom...not pretty, but livable. One of my clearest memories from Parrott Hall involves watching live news footage of Hurricane Katrina while getting ready to go to class during the first few weeks of school. I remember that in my homesickness, I felt a sort of kinship with the displaced people being interviewed by the media.

The Weber Center. This building is located across the street from Parrott Hall, and was usually the first thing I saw in the morning from my window, and the last thing I saw before going to sleep. The Weber Center had just opened (my freshman year, or the year before-I don't remember), and I was lucky to have several classes there; everything was very high-tech and modern, and it was a neat place to learn.

Work

My first day at the college, a friend I had met at orientation, offered me a job with her as co-football managers. She had a relative who was on the coaching staff and we were quickly accepted as part of the team. As managers, we attended each practice, did team laundry every night, and were up bright and early on game days prepping the field, setting up the sky-cam and other video cameras and walkie systems, and repairing helmets, cleats, and other gear for the players. We even spent Sunday afternoons watching game films with the defensive linemen. We spent so much time in the locker rooms that the night security guards knew us by name and we could identify any of the 100+ players' lockers with our eyes closed. Though we pretty much had the same duties as managers during games, during the daily practices, my friend tended to spend more time repairing equipment, while I spent many, many hours 30 feet in the air in a deer stand with a video camera filming plays for the coaches...something that was fun, but proved difficult during the 10 degree weather we had toward the end of the season when the wind blew the deer stand so much, that at times we all worried that it would blow over. It was also hard to hold the camera with numb hands! lol! All in all, it was one of the best jobs I've had. The coaches were awesome and the players treated us like little sisters-making sure that we got around just fine on campus and putting anyone who tried to intimidate us in their place. The photo above is of Ash and I after we raided the eye-black sticker supply one night in the locker room. The photo below was taken at a game in Iowa in November 2005. ("Fight on for ONU, Fight on fight on for ONU. Fight on for ONU, Fight on fight on for ONU. We are for you, we are for you, fight on!")

Fun

This horrible picture is of a bruise I got one night while sliding down a bannister in Burk Administration Building. I was enrolled in a night-time literature class and was so happy to be done with class that night that I slid down every bannister from the 4th floor to the 1st. Unfortunately, as I got the to end of the last one, I was unable to avoid sliding into the iron ball end-cap...I suppose I got what I deserved.

We were spoiled at Olivet to be located so close to Chicago. Though we didn't visit the city every weekend, we did go a number of times-usually taking the "Metra" train to Millennium Station in the morning and returning to the Manteno station on the 4:15. Though I'm not a fan of big cities (too crowded!) I love Chicago and will be happy to visit again some day!

During my last few months at Olivet, my roommate and I went to Davenport, Iowa-part of the quad cities (Rock Island and Moline, Illinois/Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa), where we visited among other sites, the John Deere Pavilion and museum.