Our Boy and His Cricket

The reality of life right now is beginning to sink in.  Our son is an upper class men in exactly two weeks.  He is now needing to focus more on what is two years ahead than what is happening this coming weekend.  Our lives are now revolving around college talk.  Where ever we travel to over the next 20 or so months we will look at any college in our path.  Our adventures have now taken on a new hue.  At this point we are looking at colleges for a starting point of what feels good and what schools offer the right fields of study for Big J which at this point include education and photography.  Then we'll dive in for more detailed tours and meeting with administrators.  During our time in Oregon we checked out four campuses...four very different colleges that has guided us in a direction we will focus more on during our college search. 

We first explored Oregon State University which is an absolutely gorgeous school!  It is filled with history and gives you the sense of Ivy League.  The campus was alive with students which was nice to see during the summer.  Orange is the popular color and it seemed everyone was wearing it...even the fire hydrants!  The Beavers are BIG up here!  As are the Ducks but I'm not really allowed to talk about them since the family there are big OSU fans.  :)

Our next stop was Western Oregon University.  The campus was closed for the summer and was quiet but still gave us a good view of what we wanted to see.    WOU was sweet and small.  We'll need to go back for a better tour if Big J wants but this was a good quick snapshot.

We then went to a private Christian college called Corban University and we were blessed with a private tour with no one but us!  It was a true gift!  The campus is nestled in the hills overlooking Salem and has a very welcoming feeling.  While the buildings were old and dated, Big J found himself liking the atmosphere a bit more than OSU.   I fell in love and instantly saw our son there in the future and of course I had to reign myself in and not push or not push too hard.  ;)

All of us loved that Corban is service based and encourages an individuals Christian faith and growth in God.  Each step we took, Big J heard more of what he finds valuable in his life and saw photos on the wall of places he wants to see in the world.   While he thought he wanted to be on a large campus, we walked off the grounds of Corban with a new thought process and a door opened for him.  Life at college CAN be more than just class work and books and Greek life!   With most Christian schools there is an expectation of community work and mission trips which is exactly what Big J is looking for on top of obtaining a degree.   Corban may not be the campus for him but it is a school he'll keep on his list as a possibility.

And finally on our way home we stopped for a few days in the Medford/Ashland area to not only check out the idea of moving there but also the campus of Southern Oregon University.  My youngest sister is an alumni and lives in the area and was the perfect tour guide for our visit!  Again we were given a private tour with just us and that makes the time on a campus more intimate and asking questions is much easier.  

Big J really liked it there even though there wasn't an emphasis on service work, mission trips or studies abroad.  The campus is tree filled and quaintly nestled in the community of Ashland.   By this point in our tours of schools, Big J was/is pretty convinced he does not want to go to school in Oregon.  BUT....I told him to have an open mind right now and keep them in his thoughts...we will see.

As of today we are two weeks from the first day of Big J's junior year of high school.  The clock is ticking and time is running out on the innocence of his childhood.  The more I think about the thought of him away at college, the more I cherish this summer and all the hours I've spent driving him to and fro.  In a matter of months it seems, he will be graduating from high school and I'll be helping him hang his clothes in a closet in some dormitory at the college that he'll wear like a well worn pair of shoes for four plus years.  I can't wait to help find that fit for him and spend these next 20 some odd months with him exploring all his options!  We are planning a big Southern California tour this Spring as well as checking out schools in Colorado and Arizona.  He'll also do a four day college experience at his "dream college" (even though he's never seen the campus!) Biola University this Fall or Spring.  Ahhhh if I just had a crystal ball!  

So where did you go to college??  

What was your dream college??  

What did you like or hate about your college experience?  

What advice do you have for us as we begin to find the perfect well worn fit for our boy?? 

Be sure to enjoy more black and white images at The Long Road to China {and back}.