Onward, Upward — 2009 graduates take on college

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children: One is roots, the other is wings.

— Hodding Carter

Annie Johnson of Myrtle Creek and Mac Smith of Elkton struggled to pack this week, while Kelly Church fought back tears as she watched a room boxed up.

All from different households, Johnson and Smith are just two of the many 2009 Douglas County graduates spreading their wings and moving away to college. Church is one of countless parents preparing to say good-bye as children leave the nest.

College classes begin at the end of this month, but students moving out of the area were getting ready to leave at the end of this week.

Church's daughter, Kenzie Church, who plans to study business with the hopes of working for a sports team, was doing last minute shopping earlier in the week, purchasing a bike lock and a camera card before she departed for Oregon State University Saturday. Actual school supplies were still on the to-do list Wednesday.

Packing reports were similar in other homes, too.

“I'm just throwing everything together right now,” said 18-year-old Stephanie Collins, another Myrtle Creek student, Thursday evening.

College bound

While the actual packing has been slow going, the college-bound kids feel they're more than ready for something new.

“I'm ready to get out of Myrtle Creek — it's tiny,” said 18-year-old Johnson, who is leaving for OSU today. “Corvallis isn't huge, but it's bigger than this.”

Johnson plans to study exercise and sports science and hopes to become a physical therapist, a career she got interested in when she injured her knee playing basketball for South Umpqua and physical therapy was required after her surgery.

For Smith, coming from rural Elkton, the small size of Klamath Fall's Oregon Institute of Technology was a deciding factor in choosing it over the other engineering schools. Though the smaller size is a comfort to the 19-year-old who has lived in Elkton all his life, he's certainly as eager as Johnson to take on the new adventure.

“Oh yeah, I'm ready,” he said.

Smith will study civil engineering and wants to get a job in which he can travel around the country or the world.

For parents, the prospect of sending children out on their own is more bittersweet.

“It's been way harder than I thought,” said Tri City resident Kelly Church. “I feel like I'm loosing a part of my body ... (but) she'll be fine and I'll be fine.”

For Glendale's Maritza Flores, 18, college won't begin with as big a change, but traveling the two-hour round trip to Umpqua Community College every day and the ability to set her own schedule will still be a far cry from her high school days.

“Now I have class every day, but I don't have to have it that way,” she said. “I'm looking forward to it, I'm pretty excited for school to start and that's something different.”

Flores, like many compatriots, expects to spend her first year honing her interests and exploring options at UCC to discover what career she's really interested in pursuing.

College Prep ... For high school students, college may seem a long ways off, but preparation for the application storm begins now. College Night is at 6 p.m. Oct. 1 in the Rose Theater at Roseburg High School, 400 W. Harvard Ave. All Douglas County college bound students, freshmen through senior year, as well as their parents are encouraged to attend. Ken Fazio, Willis New, Jane Docken and Jim Early will be covering information about the entire college preparation and application process as well as financial aid and scholarship information and timelines. Representatives from Oregon's seven public universities — University of Oregon, Oregon State, Western Oregon, Southern Oregon, Eastern Oregon, Portland State universities and Oregon Institute of Technology — and UCC will be introduced and available to meet with students and parents following the presentation in the theater. Information: 440-4155.

New, different

Many colleges offer orientation to help new students hit the ground running.

UCC has been madly adding new student orientations to accommodate the almost 50 percent increase in enrollment this fall.

At University of Oregon, freshman and transfer students come to the Eugene campus for one and two-day events during the summer for an early orientation, advising and class registration, called IntroDUCKtion. This week, the school offers another week of welcome before classes.

“The student is now in charge of which classes they take and attend. There's a big difference between high school and college,” said Cora Bennett, director of student orientation programs at UO.

A lot of the orientation focuses on getting students to realize the new-found freedom may need to be reined in for them to be successful.

Discussions with faculty and staff focus on everything from classroom behavior, to traits of successful students, and from technological distractions like using Facebook in class to the social aspects of college and partying.

“We talk a lot with students about how the social parts of campus can enhance their experience, but it shouldn't replace going to class and getting good grades,” Bennett said.

When it comes to students' choices on drugs and alcohol, Bennett said the campus and the City of Eugene have a ‘zero tolerance' for illegal activities. Other Oregon campuses have similar policies.

UO summer orientation includes simultaneous, but separate parent programs that explain much of the same information.

“We offer separate programs because we want to put students in the driver's seat,” Bennett said. “But we want parents to be aware of things because we realize they may be the first call when their student is struggling or in crisis.”

The Church family attended a similar program at OSU and Kelly Church said it helped allay some of the anxiety.

“We feel really good about the school,” she said.

Another comforting factor is knowing her daughter won't be completely alone.

That home connection

At least five new South Umpqua grads will begin their freshman year at OSU this fall.

Johnson and Kenzie Church, along with two other South Umpqua grads will be living in the same dormitory, McNary Hall.

Johnson will be rooming with Collins, and another classmate will be on the same floor.

Kenzie Church will live one floor up.

Moving in with old classmates is comforting for the students, too.

“A lot of friends will be there, so that will be nice,” Collins said.

Smith and Flores will also take on college with a small cadre of their old community.

Smith will live with his sister and brother-in-law, also attending OIT, and Flores is hoping she and two other Glendale grads can carpool to UCC.

Johnson said she and Collins hope their friendship will help keep them on track and avoid common first-year pitfalls.

“Stephanie and I have decided that there's no freshman 15 (pounds) happening,” she said. “We're definitely working out.”

Some aspects of home just won't be able to travel to school with the incoming freshman, though.

Johnson said she already knew she would miss her mother's cooking.

“Those homecooked meals make a difference,” she said.

Maritza Flores Flores, 18, of Glendale will begin classes at Umpqua Community College this fall. She plans to explore her interests and career possibilities before deciding on a major. No picture was available at the time of publication.

Anxious, nervous

Students The News-Review interviewed were all excited for their new adventure, but some questions and worries lay just below the surface.

The big question was: What will the homework be like?

“A lot of my friends already went to private colleges and all are complaining about all the homework on Facebook,” Kenzie Church said. “I'm not looking forward to that.”

Smith and Collins were worried about the intensity of homework compared to what they were used to in high school.

“I just don't know what the work's going to be like,” Smith said. “Coming from a small school ... if I'll be ready for the college work and everything.”

Collins signed up for 18 credits originally and then, after a chat with her high school counselor who told her she would be testing her limits, she dropped her classes to a more manageable 14 credits.

“(I'm) definitely nervous — classes, everything was so easy in high school, I don't know if I'm ready for college,” Collins said.

For others, the weight of ensuing adulthood brings up mixed feelings.

“I'm still ready to leave, but part of me wants to be 7-years-old and not have to make some decisions,” Johnson said.

But for all — as soon as they can get packed, anyway — the future is now.

“I'm looking forward to starting school,” Kenzie Church said. “I kind of want to experience what it's like to be a college student.”

• You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.