Western Kentucky University - Talisman Yearbook (Bowling Green, KY)

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18 For freshmen encountering a new experience, the first week of school fostered plenty of... The first week of college for the freshman blended into a garbled mixture of finding the best buy on books for the semester, learning gourmet ways of preparing grilled cheese and peas in the dormitory and finding out the hard way not to mix the colored clothes with the white ones at the laundry. Freshmen, ones who were both familiar and unfamiliar with the city of Bowling Green before enrolling, came to campus and had experiences the first week of school, Aug. 23-30, they will not be able to forget. Ever. According to studies taken through the office of Dr. Ronnie Sutton, dean of scholas- tic development, 4,000 freshmen enrolled in the fall semester, approximately half men and half women. The figures showed the average student came from a home within 100 miles of Bowling Green, was 18 years old and had a high school grade point average of 3.0, or “B.” To top it off, the freshmen all shared primarily the same problems when they came the first week. For instance, freshmen had the new ex- perience of foraging for their own meals, and the recently remodeled dormitory kitchens proved to be useful in this. area. The general procedure for most freshmen the first week appeared to be fixing meals at the dormitory as much as possible. Benna Pryor, a resident of South Hall from Leitchfield, said she and her roommate got groceries right away and split the cost down the middle. ‘We fixed our food, so buying groceries ended up saving us money,” Miss Pryor said. Three freshmen males, Dave Gregory, Richard Crumbie and Brad Simpson, pur- chased meal tickets to eat in Garrett cafe- teria. Gregory described the food as ‘‘typical, fair lunchroom food.’’ Crumbie said he did not like walking all the way up the hill from the men’s dormitories, and Simpson said, “The food is okay, but those employees aren't really out to satisfy you.” Activities on campus were varied for students coming for the first week of school. Roommates Donnie Thomas and Teddy Burfict went on one of their bi- weekly shopping trips to a chain grocery to compen- sate for what they failed to bring from home. The two said they shared the cost. Students gathered after the first day of classes to watch the football team practice under the night lights to avoid the heat. Coach “Butch” Gilbert said the team returned on Aug. 13 and began practicing after two days of briefing and instruction. Leslye Wallace wrote the first of her weekly letters home to her parents as she waited for her boyfriend to accompany her to the laundry. Miss Wallace said she does her laundry about once a week and it costs her approximately two dollars each time. First Week [nch-high feelings and second thoughts

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P.E., were already filled, and | ended up with an English class at 5:10 on Monday nights.” At the other extreme was sophomore Billy Thompson, a predentistry major from Nashville, who registered in the next-to-last group. “| was all ready to get bombed out, but | was quite shocked. No troubles and no hassles!” Thompson's roommate, A.T. Step hens, who registered only a half hour before, had the same story. “It wasn’t that hairy,” Stephens said. ‘The classes | wanted in English were closed, but | just went through ‘drop-add’ later.” A person's side of the story depended on his side of the table. Teachers, deans and department heads endured the heat, too, but they gave instead of took computer cards and heard instead of improvised sob stories. Dr. James Heldman, English department head, saw climactic events at the English tables. “Fall registration is always bad for us, but it was the most hectic registration I’ve been through,” Heldman said. “We were so swamped the students were backed up to the business administration tables and we had to get Dean Jenkins a theatre rope to keep the lines separated.” Heldman said the situation was caused by three factors: the pre-registration from fresh- men, the unavoidable schedule changes and the new English 055 requirement. A non-credit course entitled ‘Introduction to College English,” numbered English 055, was required of all freshmen who scored below 14 in the verbal section of the ACT test. Over 300 students enrolled in the 24 sections which were not listed in schedule bulletin. Heldman also explained his maneuvers and responsibilities as a department head at registration. “| keep an eye on the en- rollment in each section and try to keep it uniform,” he said. “| also try to anticipate about half-way through if we need more sections opened. If so, that means finding a room, teacher and cards for the new class. The whole time I’m just hoping | don't make any mistakes | can’t solve later.” Also on the other side of the table was Karen Durham, a senior from Harrodsburg. Miss Durham worked for the Office of the Registrar taking up packet envelopes and information sheets on the upper concourse. “This was my sixth consecutive semester so it was pretty routine,” she said. “| think it’s the best table because we're not so busy that we can’t stop and talk to people.” Like good literature, the memories of another registration live on. Although every person registering for classes is touched by different experiences, the stories that result from those hectic August days remain on the required reading list at Western year after year. @ Lines were backed up at the mass communications table as students tried to squeeze into classes already filled by preregistration. A total of 479 mass com- munications majors was enrolled in fall 1975 as com- pared to 444 in the 1974 school year. the | Registration in the fall had a different meaning for everybody. For nine-month-old Brandy Shelly, it meant boredom as her mother Barbara, who commutes every other day from Franklin, signed up for 12 hours of general classes. An article in the Aug. 25 issue of Time magazine about the low literacy level of incoming college students caught the attention of Catherine Ward, who teaches English O55 — a non-credit course for freshmen who score below 14 in the verbal section of the ACT test. Jill Chandler and Megan Bradford experienced frustration as Miss Chandler could not get a needed art course. Although Miss Brad- ford got all the classes she planned and completed registration quickly, she lent moral support to her friend. i Registration

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Dormitory life was also a big change fac- ing the first-time college students. Those who had been accustomed to their own room had to get used to sharing one, and also to co-existing with a community of people. With the mandatory housing rule all fresh- men had to master the art of resident hall life unless they were exempt for some reason. Nancy Perros, a data processing major from Danville, complained about the situation in Bemis Lawrence. “Nobody is quiet during quiet hours, and stereos are always playing loud because doors are left open,” she said. “People are nosey, too. They just drop in to see what you're doing even if they don't know you.” Laurie Sutherland, a Central Hall resident from Russellville, said the worst thing for her to get used to was “‘all the noise.” She said, “| go to bed early every night because | have 8:00 classes. The noise bothers me.” Another Central Hall resident, Pippa Pinckley, was placed in a situation not un- common to the first week of school. The Tompkinsville native’s first roommate stayed in their third floor room one night before she moved to her original choice a room on the second floor. Miss Pinckley said she got another roommate a couple of weeks later, who stayed for one week until she, too, moved to the second floor. Miss Pinckley said she finally got a permanent roommate about the fifth week of school. “Too much studying can get on your nerves after awhile...” —Barbara Camp Also from Central Hall, Jan Robbin from Vincennes, Ind., said she thought residents should be able to improve the rooms. “‘I’d like to paint the walls,” she said. Robin Vincent from Louisville also said her room in Rodes-Harlin needed a paint job when she moved in. “It looked like a bunch of hogs lived there before we did,” she said. Kim King, a resident of South Hall from Burkesville, said she really enjoyed dormitory life. ‘We have a ball every time the phone rings,’ she said. ‘‘We all shoot out our doors like cannons to see whose phone is ringing.” A resident of the newly renovated Potter Hall for women, Gini Dunn from Nashville, Tenn., commented on living in a dormitory that also doubles as the housing office and the office of student affairs. “Sometimes | feel out of place in the lobby watching television because men are walking through all the time going to their offices,’ she said. Moving to the 21st floor of Pearce-Ford Tower was an experience in itself. Leon Chappell, a history major from Elizabeth- town, said the elevator was the biggest gripe. “It took so long to get an elevator and then guys had to get off on almost every floor,” he said. “If | left something in the room, it took fifteen minutes to go back and get it.” Brad Simpson said he was satisfied living in Barnes Campbeli. ‘‘Our resident assistant is ‘cool’ but it’s hard to study,” he said. “The shower conditions are also lousy.” Most of the freshmen elected to attend the back-to-back mini-concerts, “Gove” and “Alex Harvey” on one night and “Bottom and Company” the next. Both were held at the amphitheatre. Watching the football team practice under the lights in preparation for the season opener with Dayton provided another form of relief. Others said they went to Center Theatre where ‘Young Franken- “1 used three-fourths of a tank of gas one night trying to find a parking space...” —Kenny Smith stein’ was showing, played tennis or used other recreational facilities on campus. Some took advantage of the countless ‘‘keg” parties. Some freshmen, however, had trouble ad- justing to a college schedule and one such person was Barbara Camp, a Rodes-Harlin resident from Fort Campbell. Budgeting time would ideally include a good balance be- tween free time, classes and studying. Miss Camp said, ‘At first | didn’t go to any parties or anything because | had too much studying to do. A little later | made a deal with myself that | would start going out on Friday and Saturday night, no matter what | had to do. Too much studying can get on your nerves after awhile,” she added. Freshmen had mixed emotions about buy- ing books for the first time. Of 20 students interviewed at random, 10 said their books cost around $50. Complaints of having to buy all new books were pretty common, while at the other extreme, some bragged about beating the long lines by going to the bookstore extremely early or late. Nancy Perros, however, said she had a negative experience in the bookstore. ‘Most of the people in the bookstore were snobs,” she said. ‘However, one woman was real nice and helped me find a book.” She said her books cost $82.05 altogether. Comparing book prices to those of another school, Connie Trent of Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) said she didn't think books were really expensive. ‘My boyfriend goes to the University of Alberta and he spent $120 on books,” she said. “That’s why! thought mine were reasonable.” Attending college classes for the first time was a totally different matter for those freshmen who were overconfident from beating the bookstore racket. “| felt about an inch high and | thought everybody was smarter than me,’ said Ginger Beeler from Spring Lick. “I had plenty of second thoughts about going to college that first week of school.” Robert Curtis from Portland, Tenn., said he was surprised by the amount of notes he had to take. “I didn’t have to take that many in high school,” Curtis said. A resident of McCormack Hall shared the feelings of Cur tis. ‘The homework scared me at first and it still does,” said Luanne Knight from Leitchfield. “| didn’t have to study in high school and now | have to crack down on homework. It never gets done,” she said. Miss Knight also commented on trying to find classrooms for the first time. “| was familiar with things around campus because I'd been here with high school groups,” she said. “It wasn’t as if I’d never been here.” “Review” was the word premed major Pippa Pinckley tagged to the first week of - school. “One thing that sort of surprised me was the size of my biology class,” she said. “It has about 70-75 people.” “Everybody said English 101 would really be hard, but | love it,” said Gini Dunn. | dropped a political science course, however, because | couldn't understand the teacher.” Benna Pryor said she was afraid to ask questions in her classes. “You just have to listen the first time and if you get it you get it, and if you dont, you don't,” she said. Some students mentioned they had been given the impression that when they came to college they would lose their identity. “| expected my professors to be cold and not care, but they were exactly the opposite,” said Richard Crumbie from Paris. Barbara Camp added to this, “! was always told the classes would be large, but it wasn’t true. The teachers will help, too, if you ask them.” The puzzle of trying to find a place to park a car or find a ride with a friend who wanted to move his car became one of the big challenges. Kenny Smith of Louis- ville said, “| used three-fourths of a tank of gas one night trying to find a parking space. It took me two and one-half hours.” Smith said he had never in his life driven around that long at two miles an hour. “Finally | learned to park in a no parking zone, turn on my emergency flashers and wait until somebody came out of the dorm and moved his car,” he said. Brad Simpson had a similar problem. He said he received eight parking tickets the first week. Simpson got two tickets in the D lot across University Blvd. for not having a sticker, one when he moved his car to the parking structure, and the remainder in the lot by Barnes Campbell for various violations. “| paid for all the tickets except the one | got in the structure,” Simpson said. “| paid them all within 24 hours, too, so | got the dollar discount. It cost me $7 altogether.” Whatever the problems were for the fresh- “The hills are fun if you area mountain goat...” —Leon Chappell men, it was clear they all shared the same type of experiences that promised to brand them with the mark of “green.” At times, it was even the freshman who was the first to label himself in this way. Maybe it was Leon Chappell, who brought up the problem that haunted the most people. “If you can get used to the hills and rain down here you've got it made,” he said. ‘The hills are fun — if you are a mountain goat.” @) 19 First Week