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For me, most of what happened prior to college is a dim memory. I think I was more the type who missed the carefree days of summer and not the type who looked forward to meeting new people and learning new things. That attitude is amusing considering that I ended up with three engineering degrees and spent about five to ten years longer in school than most people do.

When I think of back-to-school memories, I always think of starting a new quarter or semester in college. As an engineering student, I almost never knew the feeling of being completely free on a college campus. I can remember the first few days of classes every term. I'd go to the first class, come home, and do my homework. Afterwards, I felt as if I were still "caught up" with my work. I could maintain that condition for a day or two at most. Beyond that time, I always had some assignment weighing on my mind. I was always thinking about what I needed to do. One of the neatest feelings about the beginning of a term was looking around and thinking, "Here I am on a college campus, and there's nothing that I absolutely have to do right now." I didn't have money to burn finding things to do, but I could afford to take a walk or do some photography.

When I moved into the dorms at Virginia Tech in 1981 (when it was called Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University), I remember getting all of my boxes of junk into my room. I went downstairs with my folks. We might have even gone out to eat. I hugged them good-bye and returned to my room. I piddled around through the afternoon and early evening. I remember going to take a shower that night and thinking, "I really live here. I can't just drive home and take a shower when I get home. For the time being, this is my home."

Strangely enough, I don't completely remember moving into my first apartment at Penn State in 1986. I had sub-leased a few times as an undergraduate, but as a co-op student, I generally found it easier to live in the dorms. Moving to Penn State for grad school meant getting my first apartment with my name on the lease. I'm almost certain that my folks came to Pennsylvania to help me move stuff, but the drive to Penn State was ten hours. I don't remember where we stayed for the night. I'm certain that we weren't able to go there in one day, get the key, and move my stuff into the apartment. I mostly remember that by mid-August, autumn is starting to come to State College, Pennsylvania. That first week may not have been gorgeous, but many subsequent weeks were very nice.

I made my final run through school from 1996 through 1999 when I went to Tennessee Tech to get a second master's degree. I was leaving a very bad job that I hated. I was changing my major from metallurgy and materials to chemical engineering. I thought that I would be permanently changing fields within engineering. In many ways, this move was a tough back-to-school. I realized that at age 33, I was starting in a program where I had less prestige and was making less money than I had as new graduate starting at Penn State at age 23. For a guy to realize that he's in a lower position at 33 than he was at 23 is a tough pill to swallow. Knowing that I had given up my middle-class income to be a student again also hurt. I remember some dean gathering us into a room trying to give us a pep talk about getting things done. I remember thinking, "I don't need this stupid pep talk. I need you to let us go so that I can start doing these things."

Bill