The elder of my two sons is heading off to college this Fall, so he and I
made a visit to Western Washington University for "Summer Start," their
version of incoming orientation. While the vast majority of our time
was taken up by attending info and advising sessions, I did manage to
sketch a bit - the best way I know of getting a feel for a place. It's a
small but very beautiful campus, and the people were uniformly
welcoming and helpful. I know that the visit helped my son feel much
better about his decision - if only because he could finally inhabit the
place he'd been considering for some time. And the visit had a similar
effect on me. It's difficult to grasp the fact that one of my kids is
already going off to school, so becoming familiar with what will be his
new home-away-from-home helped put my mind at ease. Here's hoping that
my son achieves great things at WWU, and I look forward to additional
visits in the future!
