Fun Times at NIU Freshman Orientation

Yesterday, Mom, Dad, and I accompanied Samone to her NIU freshman orientation. It was a fun experience for all:

-NIU (Northern Illinois University) is almost 80 miles from where we live (just a bit further away than Northwestern). It’s north and west from where we are, in DeKalb, IL. The ride on the tollway took about 70-80 minutes, which wasn’t too bad. There were four tolls we had to pay on the way there, totaling $1.75. Fortunately for us, we weren’t going any further westward than NIU. The final toll we paid was 55 cents, which was at the exit for NIU. If you continued, the toll jumped to 95 cents.

-For some reason, NIU didn’t include any actual street addresses on the things they sent to us regarding the orientation. There were some generic directions, but we needed some specific directions from our house. Mom asked me to go to MapQuest to look for some. With no street address to work from, I had to use the generic university address they had in the system. We got to the area easily, but had trouble finding where exactly we had to go. We eventually found our way, and later found out that MapQuest pointed us in the direction of the NIU Convocation Center (Sports Arena).

-When it comes to the universities Samone and I chose, they couldn't be more different. NIU is about as different from NU as you can get. NU is a private school; NIU is a state school. NIU is in the center of what is basically a rural/country area; NU is in a suburb that is close to Chicago. I found my mom’s way to tell the difference amusing. She noticed that when NU had refreshments, they would have bottled water. NIU, on the other hand, had a big dispenser filled with “Ice Water.” However different these two schools are, though, they are both good schools. Frankly, there were some things that NIU had that I wish NU had...like cable TV that doesn’t require a computer and a microwave and fridge in every room.

-During the opening presentation of the orientation, the orientation team leaders were introduced. All of the students (and family members) were separated into 12 groups that each had an orientation leader. The leader met with the students first in the early part of the day, and met with the family later on. The team leaders were a marvel of diversity. Of the 12 leaders, there were two African-Americans (one male, one female), one Asian male, one Latino female, and one guy who sounded like he could’ve been gay. In fact, NIU showed diversity a lot while we were there. They kept stressing that 27 percent of their students were ethnic minorities. In fact, in every video and presentation we saw, they managed to show multiple African-Americans and at least one person of another minority.

-One thing I noticed is that going to NIU seems to be a family affair. Quite a few people who spoke at presentations were NIU alumni who now work at the university. Also, a lot of families had more than one child go to NIU. The faculty speaker that Mom, Dad, and I saw was the middle child of three sisters to all go to NIU. For the record, our family has some NIU history. My cousins Raymond and Angela on my dad’s side and my late Aunt Peggy on my mom’s side went to NIU.

-In the end, it was a pretty good day. It was quite interesting for me to see what the college experience is like from the outside perspective. I had an opportunity to go with Samone to some of her early events, but I decided not to. I think it was best that her group didn’t have the cynicism of someone who has recently gone through the college experience.

NIU seems like it will be a good fit for Monie. She’ll get an experience that’s definitely different from anything she’s done previously. Plus, all that diversity NIU kept touting will be of good use. It’ll be interesting to see if she wants to come home every weekend...or stay up there most of the time.