Parent To Parent
Parent & Family Council
By: Herb and Mary Morgan, Sophomore Parent Representatives
It wasn’t so hard this time around, now was it? Just a year ago, Mom shed all those tears and Dad pretended he didn’t need to cry. This year, drop off was probably a fair amount different. Glad to have one less body in the house? Glad your student went back for the second year? Four months of summer break was just too long for a house guest, eh? No matter if your sophomore is your oldest or youngest, the nest is once again temporarily less full or vacant, and it feels good. Gone this round was all the angst over roommates, class selection, safety, nutrition, cleanliness, health and solo travel. Nineteen years of loving labor and “the kid” is showing some serious signs of maturity. Are you done straining the clavicle with the hearty pats on your own backs? Good, because the sophomore year has its own set of unique challenges.
First, “the kid” either just signed a lease for next year (or a once-bitten landlord has asked you to sign the lease). If you are reading this and your sophomore has not secured living space for next year… stop, call and roll. Call your sophomore and find out the status. If the progress isn’t where it should be, you’ll likely need to get involved.
Next, there is this issue of study abroad. Well, this isn’t your 1980’s-style study abroad where you do an exchange with somewhere as exotic as the University of New Hampshire. No, nowadays our kids can go anywhere in the world with a default choice of Florence, Italy. Yeah, that’s right… the default is Florence, Italy. Yes, we understand you likely deprived yourself of European vacations for decades to save up for “the kid’s” four years at Gonzaga. You need to understand that the four years likely includes a really fabulous opportunity to study abroad. OK, get “the kid” on the phone right away and make sure this is all set for next year. Oh, and don’t be too surprised if you are stuck paying for that lease in Spokane for both fall and summer semesters while “the kid” is sipping lattes at a café in Paris, while living in Florence. Planning is a skill that doesn’t develop until the mid-thirties.
Finally, the summer between sophomore and junior year is about to get real. Real in the sense that a junior needs to find an internship that is, at the least, tangentially related to his major. The coming summer is pretty important. It’s time for us parents to get tough and teach them the humility associated with finding that internship that will help build their resume. Remember graduation is a short 30 months away. Is “the kid” on LinkedIn yet? For all that time they spend Insta-tweeting their Facebooks, put them on LinkedIn. It won’t hurt to throw a little fear into them about how it’s their responsibility and all the good internships are wrapped up by Christmas. Oh, and when “the kid” comes back with “I emailed a bunch of companies but haven’t heard back yet,” just take a deep breath and remember our teaching job isn’t over yet.