Alma Mater

This evening I drove down to Maryville. I went for the Senior Show, which is a design showcase of the senior graphic design students' work. I like to go if I can, the work is always fresh and inspiring. I also go to see my former professors; it's kind of like seeing an old friend every year or two.

As I was nearing the school on Hwy. 141, seeing the lit buildings behind the trees, I was reminded of the anxiousness I'd feel when I was returning as a student: driving back on a Sunday evening after a weekend at home, just ready to get back, finish homework, and get settled in my room again. 

As I pulled onto campus I was greeted by construction and reminded Oh yeah, they tore my old dorm down. They demolished Duchesne Hall, which is where I spent the first 1.5 years of my college career. I say 1.6 because for 0.4 of my sophomore year, I lived in an apartment with three other girls. Things fell apart and two of us moved out by Christmas. We lived at the bottom of a hill and I left partly because of the drama and mostly because when I wasn't feeling good, it was very difficult for me to walk up that hill to class, to lunch, to anything. 

As I took a right, I then passed Gander and remembered the first time I toured the place. It was a Friday and hardly anyone was around because, lo and behold, most of the students don't have class on Fridays. But it was a nice day and I liked the small size of the school instantly. It seemed like it was going to be a good fit, and ended up being the only school I visited.

I drove past Cedar, my old apartment, where I lived with two different girls two different years. Ami turned out to be the best roommate I could have asked for, and then Ashley turned out to be completely absent all the time and went home to Gerald every weekend. I wonder what they're both up to these days.

As I continued on, I remembered going to the chapel late at night to play on their wonderful baby grand piano. By senior year, turned out I wasn't the only one who did this as I had a couple times where I ran into people. I wonder if people still do that... I wonder if the chapel is still unlocked all the time...

And then I finally reached the Art & Design Building, the ADB as I called it back then (I was a pioneer in shortening phrases into series of letters, lol). That is one building on campus that hasn't changed, and I doubt it will very much, there's not much room to add on. I was able to talk with all four of my design professors that I had for most of my design education and they were all happy to see an alum. The first thing one of them said to me was "I love your hair!" I spoke with another for a while as to how I'm doing and what I'm up to; we need to do lunch together sometime.

The work was good and colorful as always. I saw a few other alums hanging about too. There were three students that really stood out to me. Lots of hexagons this year too, haha. But I was really caught up in one student's capstone project. He called in BeFriend, and it was a hypothetical program that would work with the ASPCA to place pets with people who need them, as in the lonely, the elderly, anyone who could really benefit from having a pet. It's funny, because just two days ago I was thinking of this exact thing and wondering if there was a program out there like that... and here it was! It had everything. Beautifully designed, too. I can attest to how much joy my dog has brought to my life, and therefore I am a big supporter of people getting pets for therapeutic reasons.

I talked with the designer and told him all of this and that I loved his project. I stopped short of pulling out my phone and showing him a picture of my dog (I didn't want to seem too crazy.) I remember how much it meant to discuss your work with other people when I was in his shoes five years ago (five years? Holy cow) and I don't think he was just being polite while he was talking to me. He was passionate about it and I gave him a heart-felt good luck and told him she should really pursue it, even if it's just locally. He thanked me for the kind words, and I really hope he can do something with it.

Speaking of my pet, I should probably stop writing this blog and go play with her. I know she's dying to play ball. Tootaloo blog fans!