Reunion note brings back college memories

The other day I received a postcard from my college alma mater.

“Congratulations on your upcoming class reunion! You and your classmates are invited back to campus to celebrate your reunion during Homecoming Weekend 2012.”


I had to think ... how many years has it been? Which reunion would this be?

Just how long ago was 1987? Have 25 years really passed since then? Oh, that just can’t be correct. I think there must have been a misprint.

Some days it feels like I am still a college student, learning new concepts with every book I open.

Those feelings were especially strong last weekend as I sat among boxes of college notes looking for information gleaned from lectures delivered almost three decades ago.

This summer, I’ve been preparing to teach an Advanced Placement Literature course, and certain texts that I’ve been reading have triggered distant memories of things my professors said.

What was the context of these familiar words? I had to know. So, I’ve been poring over pages and pages of notes that I took as a young college student. The nuggets I have uncovered are priceless.

Some of the things I found seemed foreign, as if from another lifetime. I couldn’t remember reading or writing them. Among the documents was a chapter to a book I started in college. Perhaps I’ll revisit that text again someday.

I was pleased to find references that I can share with my students, and I was glad that I had kept the notes in binders so that the information would be organized.

Little did I know then what I would be doing now — teaching high school students what I didn’t learn until college. Everything is taught earlier today.

I encourage my students to take advantage of every opportunity because they’ll never know how they will be able to use the experiences that come their way.

Things have come full circle for me. In the last year, we’ve visited about a half dozen colleges with our son, who will be a senior in high school this year.

While I am sad to think of him not being at home next year, I am excited about the possibilities that await him.

I wouldn’t mind going back to college myself ... although some of the classes required for the engineering major he’s considering aren’t exactly my cup of tea.

He can tell me all about his classes when he comes home on break, and if I want to know more, I’ll just ask to see his binders.

I’m sure he’ll take good notes.

Lisa Tedrick Prejean writes a weekly column for The Herald-Mail’s Family page. Send e-mail to her at lprejean@schurz.com.