Orientation: Week 1 Aug 23-30 2013

   I'm at Cottey!! I finally arrived on campus around 5pm on Friday, August 23 after two plane rides and an almost three hour bus ride from Kansas City. The flights were alright, the first from Portland to Denver which was around 3 hours and then from Denver to Kansas City around 70 minutes. I was exhausted when I arrived in Kansas City, then I waited for my bags to come off the carousel. Then I walked to the end of Terminal to find; new students (only 13 of us), staff from Cottey, Orientation leaders, and PEO's from Missouri chapters. The PEO's brought us snacks and drinks, which was so wonderful and made me feel so welcome! We then headed onto the shuttle bus and off to Cottey!

   Friday evening was all moving in for me. I had shipped a large box that had a lot of necessities for my new room as well as a large suitcase and a small suitcase to unpack. I also ordered a fan, closet doubler, and shelving that needed to be assembled. A friend from Portland who also attends Cottey, helped me move in which I really appreciated. We had an ice cream social and meeting with our orientation groups. I got to meet some of the other freshmen in PEO hall as well as Orientation leaders.

  Saturday started with a presidential welcome from Dr. Judy Rogers who told us more about the college and what wonderful programs are offered. The faculty were also introduced by the department heads, afterwards we were able to meet with the faculty to introduce ourselves. After lunch I went to Walmart to buy some of the things that I need for my room.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were filled with activities and craziness on campus. The returning seniors arrived at campus on Sunday, which included a lot of screaming and hugging. We received information about using the technology at Cottey and received our campus Internet log on. 

Monday night was the 130th convocation for Cottey, where all new students signed the Cottey book. 

My new room! 

PEO Hall, my new home! 

Ready for convocation! 

Us freshman and our pass down shelf. 

First day of college!! 

Academic Planning

  In less than two short weeks I will be flying off to Missouri, attending orientation, moving into my dorm room, and starting fall classes. I cannot wait to live at Cottey for the next two years and have a new adventure filled with new friends and great memories. Looking through the course catalog for the fall semester, I started planning out what classes I wanted to take. There are so many different and fascinating classes that I can take, I love that I have so much freedom to choose what classes I will take. 

   On Friday, I received an academic planning and class schedule from Cottey along with instructions on how to make your tentative schedule form, that you bring completed to meet with your advisor during orientation. I spent a good portion of my night looking through the requirements for an associates in arts degree as well as the general education requirements to graduate from Cottey.      Certain classes fulfill specific requirements while others can fulfill multiple, however only one class can fulfill one requirement. Scheduling is somewhat complicated, but I caught on fairly quickly and once I understood how it works, it was very easy to make my tentative schedule. I built it around one class that is only offered one time the whole semester; international relations, which is a class that I have been looking forward to taking for a long time. I plan on majoring in international relations and business, which makes international relations necessary to take upper level courses. With the schedule I made, I will be taking 16 credit hours my first semester, that is if I get to take all the classes I want to. Naturally I have back-ups in case the classes I wanted are full. 

I am really excited to get to Cottey in a few weeks, start classes, and meet new friends. This will be an incredible year, I can't wait for it to begin!