Brainy Bird and I are in South Carolina for his new student orientation at the University of South Carolina. The entire event, which is the first in-person student orientation in two years, is filled with a deep feeling of gratitude and excitement. Cheerful greetings from all of the new student orientation team members set the tone for our big day of orientation. The positive feeling of normalcy and returning to our pre-pandemic lives will not fade anytime soon.
The orientation presentation began with opening remarks from the university president. As with many universities, this is the most competitive admissions at the University of South Carolina has ever been. They are the largest ever freshman class. The most common names of students in their freshman class are Emma, Loren and Matthew. I can’t remember what the other most common boy’s name is.
The man that does the segment on campus parking opened with, “It is so good to see and talk to people in person.” He could not have said it better. He is one those natural speakers that could get up on stage and talk about virtually anything and captivate the audience. Case in point, he talked for about ten minutes on parking, and he held everyone’s attention.
We loved meeting other parents and students through out the day. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that our orientation fee included breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Lunch included potatoes au gratin. Oh, I love southern food.
Above all, I appreciated the parent segment. The presenters truly appreciate that we are trusting our most precious treasure with them, our children. Brainy Bird liked the student break out sessions and conversations around university life, and situations that they may run into.
We started our day at 7 AM, and we finished the day of back to back activities at 8 PM. At then end of the day, I received an email that said, “Congratulations! You have successfully completed New Student Orientation!” Exhausted from the day’s events, I felt I deserved a congratulations.
Brainy Bird did not return from orientation nearly as tired. He wanted to go for a small bite to eat afterwards, and I was not about to say no to time with him. We grabbed an Uber, and we went to an oyster bar that he discovered during his campus visit with his dad. This made for a perfect ending to a perfect day.
Today, we attend an event for the honors college, and that is my only scheduled activity. He attends a session with his academic advisor. Most students register for classes today. Brainy Bird has already registered as the honors college students get to register early. The rest of the day will be spent exploring the campus at our leisure, with open houses at places like the university rec center, and taking care of a short to do list of activities, like picking up his Carolina Card, which is the card they use for their meal plans and Carolina dollars. The day includes a self-guided tour that they have made into a scavenger hunt. I am excited that Brainy Bird wants to do this. The city of Columbia, SC has so much to explore.
The chapters of Brainy Bird’s college life have officially begun!