Iowa Private College Week

There are a lot of things in my life that I am new to at this very moment in time. For one, blogging. I’ve always thought that blogging was, like, pretty cool, but never thought that I would have anything meaningful or exciting to say that would entice people to continue reading—we’ll see how this works out! Another: my job. I just graduated from Simpson this past May, and was very excited to accept a position as an admissions counselor at my beloved alma mater. So, during the course of this blog, please remember, I am new to this terrain; I have questions, I make mistakes, and sometimes I’m just downright awkward…be kind.

Anyway, enough with the disclaimer. We are in the midst of Iowa Private College Week right now, and it is my first event at my new post as an admissions counselor. I'd say I'm keeping up pretty well, however, this morning, I was eating a Starburst, and driving a golf cart as I was almost attacked by a Cicada Killer; subsequently, I almost crashed the golf cart, choked on the starburst, and flailed my arms wildly as Cassie, another admissions counselor, sat and watched in disbelief. This week has been nothing less than exciting! At the same time, it is very interesting to be on the “other side” of things now. Things actually work quite differently than I had imagined them to. It has been an adjustment, and I find myself experiencing a little bit of envy as I watch incoming students stopping at the bookstore throughout the summer to pick up their books, or looking at all the cool May Term trips and realizing that I am no longer a student, and so won’t be going to the international fair to sign up for any of them. Alas.

On the upside, I am really pleased with my job thus far! There actually are positive things about life after graduation!! I am getting really excited for the fall when I start traveling and meeting more students! I have already met a bunch of really great families, and I work with really fantastic people. Some of my coworkers have been talking about how great this new game Guitar Hero is; I had never played, and neither had a few of the other admissions counselors, so last night, Beth (you’ll also notice that she has a blog!) had some of us over to have a little game night. I tell ya, that’s a great game! I finally made it up to the medium level by the time we were done, but I have really terrible hand-eye coordination, so I was only passing with like a 54%. Beth, Andy, and Tiff, on the other hand, smoked pretty much everyone. Sara and I couldn’t pass a song together no matter how hard we tried! Today, I think I have carpel-tunnel from over-indulging on the plastic guitar, and it hurts my fingers to type, so I shall sign off for now…

Be Well,
j.o.