Students are preparing to move back on campus for the start of the fall semester. Comment below and tell us the story of your first day at Michigan Tech.
Lode Articles (Courtesy of Michigan Tech University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections)
Fall 1972. No one to help move in, had to find my room on my own. Placement tests for chemistry. Car registration. Only two suitcases. Group went to a bar, but I was still 17. Pre printed computerized schedules. Had to negotiate in a hectic ROTC building at booths for changes. Meeting roomate for first time. Orienation lectures in Sherman Gym. Walking assembly line through Admin Bldg to get the administrative details taken care of, including writing a check for tuition and room and board. Figuring out what books I needed and buying them. Then came the first classes with a full lecture and homework assignments the first day. It was a hectic first three days that I still remember.
My first day at MTU, and my first real trip to the UP from Oakland County MI, I met my 2 roommates – One from Munising MI, and one from Iron Mountain MI. My roommate from Iron Mountain MI had such a strong UP accent I thought he was a foreign exchange student!!! haha!!! We all became great buddies, and forged a bond, and experiences that made me who I am today.
Moved into a Wadsworth Friday. Saturday 8:30a.m. Intro to Chemical Engineering – slide rule class.
I arrived on campus in September 1965 after driving 360 miles, on my motorcycle, from my home town in the Lower Peninsula. It rained most of the way and I was soaked to the skin. My parents arrived about an hour later with my stuff and we stayed overnight at one of the local motels. The next day I was able to move into my dorm, Douglas Houghton Hall. There was a housing shortage that year, due to a lot of last minute applications to the university in an attempt to avoid the draft (I immediately enrolled in Army ROTC) and so for the first couple of weeks I was stuck living in what was normally a one-person room with TWO other people. It was a mess, you could barely stand-up (you almost had to take turns getting dressed). After attrition started to have its affect, I was moved to a normal two-person room up on the 3rd floor of the dorm (DHH).
Anyway, it was a big adjustment for me since I came from a very small town (there were only 30 in my high school class) and not only did I have to adjust to the rigors of my classes, I was also experiencing a bit of culture shock, suddenly being thrown together with people from around the globe. I quickly learned that a college education went well beyond just what you were exposed to in the classrooms, but also having to make new friends with individuals from places which for me had previously only been names on a map somewhere. Looking back on it now, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.