By Dana Johnson -- News Editor, Miami Daily Student
As I pulled up the hill on Route 27, entering Oxford, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of nostalgia. It was the end of August and I was returning to school for my sophomore year at Miami University.
I felt as though I were coming home.
Having left the campus in May for summer vacation, it was my first time back in nearly four months. I hadn't realized how much I missed it. I missed the trees and their shimmering leaves that would soon be changing color Miami is beautiful in the fall. I missed being able to walk anywhere I wanted to go in 10 minutes or less. And I missed the friendships I'd made the previous year.
Recently named one of only eight public "Ivies" in the country, Miami is more than just picturesque.
It might be a university, an institution of higher learning similar to others, but for me it's a world not merely hinged upon learning from textbooks. It's a place containing experiences I've created for myself, in which I have been stretched as a person and asked to consider the world not just through my own eyes but through the eyes of those with very different perspectives.
Being surrounded by 16,000 peers was a vast difference from high school. Though Miami isn't diverse in the traditional sense of the word, I've still found that those who attend are diverse in their own way -- extending to diversity in family dynamics, religious beliefs and world view.
To generalize, I'd say we are a hopeful bunch, with the majority of those I've encountered believing their lives can be anything they choose to make them. I share in that belief and feel that, though Miami might not be completely unique among other universities, the point is that it gives students tools for reaching their dreams. It's up to us to utilize those tools however we see fit.
In that respect, Miami is located in the perfect college town. Oxford was founded for the university nearly 200 years ago and has the appeal of the small, friendly, tree-lined college towns you see in the movies. Uptown Oxford is centered on High Street and is lined with a select few little shops and restaurants. And the beauty of it is that nearly every eatery delivers, many until all hours of the night. Don't get me started on the late-night cravings that are satisfied only by ordering from Bagel & Deli or SDS Pizza.
Let's not forget the bars. Oxford has several of those as well -- a college town necessity, or so I'm told. Some of the best bands I've heard have been student bands playing uptown at Pachinko or the Balcony. And some of the best times have been spent dancing (and sweating) the night away at the often-crowded First Run, an Oxford bar/restaurant with its own little dance club.
Though it might not be known nationally for sports, Miami has a few claims to fame, including Wally "World" Szerzbiak, who now plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves, "Touchdown" Travis Prentice, who now plays for the Cleveland Browns, and the nickname "the cradle of coaches." Prentice brought some enthusiasm to football at Miami last year, breaking records all over the place. And Szerzbiak helped put Miami on the map two years ago, when the RedHawks made it all the way to the Sweet 16.
Putting 'Education' in Liberal Arts
Deeply rooted in tradition, Miami proudly grasps ideas like excellence in education. Along those lines, President James Garland's vision for the university is to make it an institution to be reckoned with by the year 2009, Miami's official 200th anniversary. Two of the "2009 Plan" goals are to increase the number, caliber and diversity of student applicants and to enhance the university's intellectual climate.
"Liberal arts education" is Miami's promise that its students will be well-rounded upon graduation. I can remember initially having no idea what that involved. After a few weeks at Miami, I figured it meant that I would be hit with all sorts of classes from all sorts of areas of study.
"The Miami Plan" is what they call the required areas of study making up a "liberal arts education." Like many students, I did my fair share of grumbling about being forced to take things like science and math, neither of which I'm much good at. But, overall, it exposed me to things I enjoyed, like political science and sociology, and helped confirm why I never wanted to be a botanist.
I like that for the most part classes at Miami are made up of 30-40 students or less. I always was afraid I'd come to college and be a number, but here I've had the opportunity to know my professors and have even found a mentor or two.
Often I hear friends at other universities complain about dorm life, but it's suited me to live in one of the many red brick buildings with other students, to have a roommate, to be surrounded by books and to live for e-mails from friends from home. Dorm life is a transitional time, where I've been able to grasp onto life as my own and do some growing up without being tossed into the world before I was ready.
Dream Come True
As my junior year quickly approaches, I now have two years under my belt -- two years that have taught me that grade point average isn't the most important thing, that the purpose of studying is so you actually learn something you didn't know, that the friends you make in college are probably the best of your life and that nearly every moment will at some point become a fond memory.
I no longer look at education with the affected disdain I did in high school. It's an investment in my future, and Miami is my stock. And I wanted to attend college here for as long as I can remember.
At the age of 11, I came up to Miami one weekend to visit my cousin, who was attending at the time, for "little sibs" weekend. After that night in her dorm room, I was hooked.
The students seemed so sophisticated and had such a look of purpose of their faces. I used to walk around in wonder at the tall trees that seemed to envelop the campus and at the sea of red brick that composed the buildings. I never thought I'd reach the day when it was my turn to be a Miamian, a Redskin or a RedHawk, as we call it now. There are still days, when I'm not caught up in exams and projects, that I take a minute to look around me and recapture some of that wonder.
I knew I would love it here, even then. And I was right. ©
