A year after taking Josiah to visit Eastern University outside Philadelphia, I returned with Abby and her friend Kaitlyn. I stayed in the same hotel, ate at the same diner, and toured the same campus.
My blog title from the earlier visit was “visiting Abby’s college without Abby.” As we walked around, Kaitlyn remarked to Abby, “If you were a college, it would look like this.”
We arrived the night before the college tour to a bitter wind, the likes of which I hadn’t felt since the disastrous hike to the top of Mount Kosciuszko. Walking the half mile from the hotel to the diner was painful as the wind howled against us turning our faces numb. On our way, we discovered all the shops closed except for the ones selling doughnuts and yogurt. WaWa, of course, was open.
Deciding what to eat at the diner proved difficult for Abby who vacillated between waffles and paninis. I love a diner menu: choices, choices, and more choices.
We were kept entertained during dinner by the Philly family seated nearby. The son was loudly explaining to his mother his reasons for defriending and blocking her on facebook, and the father was berating the son for ordering a steak in a diner. The father loudly declared that if he wanted a steak, he should have gone to a steakhouse. In between these loud angry outbursts complete with agitated hand gesturing, they pleasantly conversed.
Gotta Love Philly.
For Abby and I, the paninis with a side of fries and gravy won out, but we both only managed to eat half (I periodically forget how much food you get in a diner). Kaitlyn had bagels and lox. We took our giant desserts to go and the cold wind, thankfully behind us now, blew us back to the hotel.
The hotel we stayed in was a fancy old place complete with a fireplace and chandelier. Upon entering the room, Abby remarked, “Daddy and Josiah stayed here? It’s not exactly their kind of place.” (A bit of an understatement.)
The next morning, after Kaitlyn managed to stuff all her Chemistry homework into her backpack, we drove over to Eastern and arrived in time for student led worship. Abby loved it. She got to sing “I am Free” the Newsboys hit written by Jon Egan.
We toured the classrooms, library, gym and dorms. We ate in the cafeteria, and Kaitlyn remarked on how pleasant it was to eat with students who managed to talk without cursing. (Kaitlyn is attending the local community college.) Furthermore, Eastern is a dry campus and a substance free school. My favorite rule at Eastern requires a girl and guy, when in the same room, to leave the door open and ensure sufficient lighting. (Sufficient lighting: it’s just funny.)
The information session concerning the honors college was interesting. The students in the honors college discuss topics of character, virtue, and wisdom. They use the writings of Plato, Augustine, and Luther to answer such questions as “What makes a good life?” A student accepted into the honors college receives a significant scholarship, but first they must pass the interview. While describing the interview, the professor explained “very few people walk out of the interview believing they got in…we just want you to sit down and struggle.” During the interview the students are asked to defend things they morally oppose to see if they understand the other point of view.
Eastern is a Christian University and they offer weeknight worship times and midweek Bible studies, but they do not conduct a Sunday morning church service. They also do not require their students to be Christians or attend any faith events. They encourage their students to become part of a local church body where they can put their motto of “faith, reason, justice” into action.
The discovery of no mandatory church service and a Theistic evolutionary view of science put some parents on the defensive. One mother was indignant with our tour guide concerning the lack of of mandatory church.
“Our children are required to attend church. My husband and I are really concerned about our children falling away from the faith if they are not required to attend service,” she said.
“Statistics report the majority of college students raised in church fall away from their faith,” he replied.
Later, Kaitlyn asked me what I thought about the mandatory church discussion. I told her each person must decide whether they will continue to follow God and the path He sets for them. I believe everyone has a choice to continue in their faith, surround themselves with friends who follow God, and do the work of the Lord where He opens the door. They can also, very well, choose not to.
“I have decided to follow Jesus…No turning back, no turning back.”
Abby likes Eastern very much, but she also likes Virginia Tech very much. Both colleges project a motto of “Make a difference in the world” which appeals to her. However, the school environments are very different. Eastern is a small private college and Tech is a large public college. She’ll need her father’s decision matrix soon.
Dale spent the day we were touring Eastern working on the taxes and the FAFSA. After he has time to recover, I’m sure he’d be thrilled to create a new spreadsheet.
In my race to find the best college, I have discovered the error in my premise. There is no single best college. (UVA is ranked first in Virginia, but we Manrys feel no love for it.) However, there are numerous good colleges. Some fit Josiah better than Abby, some fit Abby better than Josiah. Sometimes, two distinctly different colleges appeal for two completely different reasons.
Therefore, Abby’s college search continues. She has two more education departments to visit. The ones she has already visited have many differences, but one striking similarity. Across the board, they all tell Abby to become a math and science teacher, not an early childhood educator.
At the moment, she’s not listening.
She’s heard there are jobs for kindergarten teachers in China as long as she has English as a Second Language certification, or in Latin America as long as she can speak Spanish.
The sixth grade girl who pleaded with us to stop moving every two years is long gone. She’s tired of ‘Old Virginia’ and longs to go on a great adventure to somewhere new.
