I Bleed.....Maroon & Gold

The more I'm away from my alma mater the more I miss it and cherish it. The other day I found myself perusing the UBookstore for various items, originally meant as gifts for my nieces and nephew only to purchase a number for myself too!

And that leads to another thing...neither parent of my nieces and nephew are Alums. Nope. My oldest brother (their father) graduated from a UW school and their mom from another MNSCU school. Though my other brother and myself are Maroon and Gold through and through and believe that our nieces and nephew should be too. It only seems appropriate that the kids be decked out in proper U wear when attending a Gopher Wrestling meet to which my family has had season tickets for years.

The crazy thing is, I didn't start at the U. I started an out of state school with intentions on graduating there with a VMD. But after those two years I found myself lacking a family beyond my academic deparment. So I transferred and I fell in love with the school that I was so worried would keep me back. Yeah, it's big and it's city-esque. Perhaps you become a bit of a number and it does take a lot for you to be noticed. I may have griped about the lack of U tradition as opposed to my previous school or the fact that PC was the biggest concern on campus over really expressing your voice.

Those were complaints then. Now I'm proud.

I had the opportunity to visit an Ivy League school with a friend. Now this friend was known by EVERYONE. He was the guy who organized everything, who became friends with the Admin and threw the parties. We could barely walk 10 ft without being stopped. When visiting his college (old dormitory where he lived for 4 years) the new onsite Reagent greeted him by first name, even though they had never worked directly together. The Reagents' wife was introduced to me briefly, as was her husband and by the end of the 20 minutes we were socializing around I became a slight part of the family. When walking out the door the couple thanked me (by first name) for coming. Not something you get back home. Again, this school is about 1/7th the size of the U.

I have to admit, I was jealous. The camaraderie and the networks were amazing. But then I started to think back to my time at the U. I loved it. I loved the challenge to be known; and I had beat that challenge. I joined 5 clubs and became involved in a variety of organizations around the university. It got to a point where I complained about not being able to walk to class without stopping and talking to someone. My network may not, at the time, seemed as diverse or haughty but I will beg to differ now. My network includes those in finance, agriculture, politics, medical and the list goes on. And these are good, down-to-earth, people who care about voices being heard through their work. They worked hard on a campus where you can easily become a number. You don't get handouts at the U. There are services, but you alone have to make that first move to be something and I think that is more important than just getting the services handed to you.

So now I'm becoming a Life Member next year of the Alum Assoc and I have taken on the challenge of reviving the area Alum Chapter in my new city. I will continue to clothe my family in U wear, cheer (and jeer) my sports teams and, eventually, I can make out a nice big donation check to my school. I believe in it and I'm proud.

That's right....I bleed Maroon and Gold and I'm proud of it.