A Digression....

Rockhurst is small.  I am fully aware of that.  And there are days every now and then when I wonder what it would be like to disappear into a comforting level of anonymity at a big state school.  But today is not one of those days.

My brother just got home from Freshman Welcome at the large state school he will be attending in the fall.  Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against state schools.  I am one of maybe two family members not to go to one, and I have grown up visiting my parents’ alma mater’s campus for football games.  My brother picked a state school because he wanted that kind of big-school-with-killer-sports-teams experience.  And I respect that.  And he picked a fine school where he will get a top-notch education—if he can actually find a way to actually take the classes. 

There was the catch he hadn’t been looking for.  Sam (my brother) is majoring in engineering (probably civil).  Housing at his school is a nightmare (they have more freshmen than they can house), and the engineering living community filled up before he ever had a chance to register (and he was only the second Welcome group).  So on to the general housing option, but that filled up, too.  Which means that he had to pick housing with some other major. 

Fine, not a big deal—but actually the point of these housing groups is that you take classes together, which is a fine idea in theory, but not if you are living with people who aren’t actually in your major.  So Sam is wondering why he is scheduled for Classical Mythology when he really needs to be in Calc 3—which he was informed will not have room for him—or at least Calc 2—which he is not allowed to register for until his AP scores arrive in July, at which point it will also be filled. 

I was incredulous when my mom filled me in on all of this. 

“Please tell me you pitched a fit over this?”  I was only half joking.  My mom is one of those people who is an expert at spending hours on the phone slashing through bureaucratic red tape.  And if it was clearly not Sam’s fault that he had to live with non-engineering people, then surely the school would make an exception and not make him take these random classes. 

My mom was quick to assure me that she talked to anyone and everyone about this problem, but got absolutely nowhere.  People told her she was out of luck; computers would not allow the entry of certain classes.  The best she got was that Sam would be allowed to drop one of those classes (see ya, Classical Mythology) to take something else. 

I was shocked.  There are plenty of registration issues at any school, but nothing at Rockhurst that I have not been able to solve with a quick trip to my advisor’s office (who knows me personally and has taught two of my classes), or to the Registrar (I am on first name terms with one of the ladies who works there because she is the moderator of the Random Acts of Kindness Spreaders).  Heck, I am creating my own minor!  And it is possible because Dr. Bicak knows I’ll do the work, and Anne Pearce is creating an independent study for me, and the list goes on. 

A little digression this week?  Perhaps, but I had to take a moment and say thank God for small schools like Rockhurst. 

Sam and I on a family vacation (to Colorado, not a cemetery)