Where It Started 10 Years Ago

Fall usually is the time of Homecoming festivities for high schools and colleges, when current students and alumni alike celebrate the school community.

It was a couple of months ago, on August 25, when I visited Valparaiso University as part of celebrating the 10th anniversary of when I began my time of studies there.

Here are some photos from that visit as I reflect on those significant days in the 20's of August 2009.

At 9:05 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 25, 2009, I began my first college class in this large classroom/lecture space, appearing in the photo above, in the Christopher Center for Library and Information Resources, specifically room 250. The entire Christ College freshmen class of the Honors College met here as a group for about an hour that day before we went to Mueller Hall to meet in our individual class groups.  We met here usually once a week for a lecture related to the text we were studying that week.  That morning, everyone fell silent when Dean Mel Piehl stood in front to address us.

I typically sat in the front row in every class, as is depicted in the photo above, and I made a point to sit near the speaker at the lectern.  Below is the view from my seat in front looking forward.

Here's Kallay-Christopher Hall, where I had my meteorology classes.  My first meteorology class met on Wednesday, August 26, 2009.

I resided in room 530 of Lankenau Hall my freshman year.  Lankenau is the building to the left in the photo above.  The windows of 530 are somewhere past the midpoint of the top floor toward the far end of the north wing of the building.

Above is a photo showing the front of Lankenau Hall, which is truly a study in contrasts.

One of the most heartbreaking moments of my life was bidding farewell to my parents near the front door on the evening of August 22, the day I moved to ValpU.

The next day, Sunday, August 23, 2009, brought one of the most joyful, inspirational, and important days of my life: I walked from the lobby inside out through that same main front door and walked on the sidewalk for about 1-2 minutes to reach St. Teresa of Avila (Roman) Catholic Student Center to attend my first Mass there, at 11 AM, an hour that would change my life in the most extraordinary way.

Below is a picture that shows that sidewalk more fully, with St. Teresa's appearing in the background near the center of the photo.

Below shows the section of seating where I sat for my first Mass at St. Teresa's.