With the semester system in place at most colleges across the country, most incoming freshmen have now settled in, beginning a journey that should be enhanced by their campus experience.
A negative circumstance will befall some along the way – that, unfortunately, is life – but for the most part, the 6,200 incoming UGA freshmen will look back on their first-year experiences as being among the greatest of their lives.
This advanced group was chosen from more than 43,500 applicants, and according to UGA Today, is one of the “largest and most academically qualified groups in university history.” They boast an average GPA of 4.13, an average 30 ACT, and an average 1339 SAT score.
In other words, these Dawgs are smart.
In addition to the class of 2027, approximately 2,860 students who hail from 48 states and 63 nations, along with 500 professional students in law, veterinary medicine, and pharmacy, are part of the incoming student body with high hopes of seeing the Bulldogs make history as three-peat national champions in football.
Of particular interest at our address is the enrollment of our granddaughter, Zoe, and her roommate, Olivia Cole.
Zoe, the youngest child of our son Kent, and his wife Stephanie are from Dallas, Tex., and her roommate, whom she met online, is from Portland, Ore.
Georgia is the only school Zoe wanted to attend. Her roommate applied for admission to 13 schools and was accepted at all. She visited 12 campuses. The one place she did not visit, UGA, was the one she chose to further her education.
Over the summer, both Zoe and Olivia shipped a variety of goods and accessories to our house to the extent that our front room looked as if it might be a FedEx depot.
During that time, we had a small dinner party that required creating a path among the boxes so our guests could weave their way to a sofa or chair. Our friends didn’t mind and were amused by all the pre-enrollment package accumulation.
Suddenly, the kids were here, which led to happy hours, tours, and a social comingling with other kids and parents who were in town to assist daughters with the same mission of getting moved into dorms.
Anna Edleman is another of those from out of state who found her way to Athens after a lifetime of a rooting interest in another institution – the University of Michigan.
Anna grew up in a family of devout Wolverine fans but narrowed her choices down to Georgia and Michigan. She could have enrolled at a number of schools but found everything she wanted at Georgia including scholarship aid, which she could not get at Ann Arbor.
(Michigan does not offer scholarship assistance to instate students.) The next move for her was to keep Georgia restfully on her mind.
There were more Dallas residents to join a pizza party at our house, too, Jeannie and Kevin O’Neal and their daughter Maggie. Then, when the sorority rush ended last Sunday, a serendipitous moment took place as our daughter-in-law and her former roommate at Texas, Shannon Summerville, connected with another Texas family at the Kappa Kappa Gamma House.
Robin Tucker is from Houston and her daughter, with a lineage that is firmly affixed with Texas, decided to break with family tradition.
She preferred a campus other than Texas, one with an elevated academic reputation, a vibrant Greek life, and where football was very important. Georgia’s status across the board brought Sarah Tucker to UGA. The eyes of Texas are upon Athens, you might say.
All the foregoing revived memories of my own experience in the mid-‘50s – a barefoot country boy, fresh off the farm, naïve, and as green as the grass that grows at Augusta National. Things went well for me until I found my way to chemistry class. I began my UGA academic life planning to study entomology. That, however, bugged me and I found a home in journalism instead.
This led to two degrees. One from the Henry Grady College of Journalism and one from Harry’s Restaurant at Five Points, where Dan Magill, an encyclopedic and clever man, the ultimate court jester, plied me with tales of his life as a native Athenian imbued with a deep and abiding love of all things UGA.
Dan offered up one-liner insights and caustic hyperbole that provided me equal helpings of learning and laughing. Once I set foot in Athens, I never wanted to live anywhere else. I met a stunning coed who became my life partner.
Our kids are graduates of Georgia and now we have a granddaughter joining us in the Classic City. The past is so memorable, and the future, for us, is so warm and engaging.
Fortunately, it’s the same for many others – from coast to coast.