Highlights from the Highway

See the photos

I can't believe our Atlanta events are over! What a whirlwind of fun. We have had such great turnouts at these events!!

Today Rachel and I noticed, almost simultaneously, how awesome Dr. Newman's laugh is! When he was addressing the Lawrenceville campus, he told a few clever jokes and one of them had made him laugh a little harder than the others---and his laugh was so contagious! The whole room was laughing! It was a fun moment :)

I had a current student come up to me this evening and say she recognized me from our online journal! She said "Hey! You're the one that hates pine scented air fresheners!" I just laughed---glad to see people are reading our stuff!

Overall, the Atlanta events were a huge success. Everyone that spoke and gave testimonials are truly blessings to the University. I wish all of our staff and faculty at the Rome campus could have heard these wonderful people speak. It was so inspirational. Everyone was also excited to get an official Shorter University t-shirt and goodies---they couldn't believe it was free! Like I said in a previous entry, I felt like Santa!! Yay!

Shorter U = awesomeness

Mal

The fifth stop on the Road Tour was Lawrenceville and once again I was so impressed with the speeches given by the students and alumni from that campus.  All of Shorter’s campuses produce outstanding leaders that make me proud to be an alumni.

As good as the Varsity has been (and they have done a great job for us) after three meals over the course of a week I will be glad for a change. 

I want to take time to publicly thank Dr. Carl Ericsson and his crew for everything they did to make these three Atlanta Campus events a success.

We have a down day before we hit the road for our long stretch through South and Costal Georgia as well as all of Florida.  Keep us in your prayers (that we are safe and don’t kill each other.)

I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not.

Chip

Outside of today being another fabulous event, my highlight was actually getting to drive the van. Until today Chip has been a van hog. I’m sure you don’t understand why I am complaining about not having to drive, but trust me I have a number of reasons. As I mentioned before, Chip isn’t the best driver. That’s reason enough to want to drive, don’t you think?? In addition, we made the rule that whoever drives gets to control the radio. Chip only listens to AM talk radio. Come on now!! We need some fresh 40 -- a little Justin Bieber please! Mallory and I made Chip suffer and listen to music… it was great!!

Thanks goes out to the 200 alumni and current students that made the trip to the Lawrenceville Campus. This campus is actually relocating to another location in the near future, a better one. With this pending move and the transition to University they have a lot to be excited about right now. Once again, the current students did a great job sharing what Shorter has meant to them. Everyone should make a trip to the professional studies campuses to see how hard these men and women work to further their education. They inspire me!! Of course, Dr. Newman was fabulous! He really showed his humorous self tonight and we got some good chuckles. I just love when he smiles and laughs…he lights up a room. I hope we got some good pictures so you can see for yourself.

My shout outs for today go to The Varsity, Dr. Carl Ericsson, Pamela Stephens Collum ’02, and Brandi McLane Poore ’05. The Varsity has catered each one of our events at the Atlanta campuses. I have resisted eating a pile of grease until tonight, and boy was it worth the wait. My hamburger and onion rings were out of this world. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I spied, to my delight, a Frosted Orange. Icing on the cake… simply amazing! Dr. E is the assistant provost for all three of the Atlanta campuses. He has helped us at each event, and I would be remiss if I didn’t thank him. You are simply a wonderful man, and I am glad to call you a friend! It was great to see Pamela and Brandi tonight. I can’t remember the last time we saw each other. It was great to catch up with them. I also got to meet Pamela’s daughter Raleigh. One word… PRECIOUS!

We have an off day tomorrow before hitting the road hard. Check out our tour schedule and please try and come see us!

Till next time,

Rachel