The official publication date of this newspaper is Aug. 20. Each year on Aug. 20, I think about Aug. 20, 1997.
That was the day, 23 years ago, that I moved into my freshman year dorm at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.
It was a big day for me, to say the least.
I was the first member of my family to attend a four-year college.
I didn’t have a car, there were no cell phones, and I had never met nor talked to my roommate, who was from Nepal, before move-in day.
I wasn’t exactly a social butterfly then, hadn’t been away from home much and was pretty inexperienced and naive about a lot of things.
And, even back then, the financial challenges for a single-parent family sending a kid off to college were very real.
I look back and wonder how we ever did it.
I had $750 from Dollars for Scholars (that was an average amount in those years), smaller scholarships from my church and my mom’s employer (IBP), a dorm fridge, a 13-inch TV, a ton of government loans and an understanding that I needed to go to college to meet my goals.
I remember clearly the feeling I had when my mom and younger sister left my dorm that day 23 years ago, and I bet my mom still does, too.
Each year on Aug. 20, I think about how that move to SMSU was one of the hardest, best and most important things I’ve ever done.
My laundry basket and I got rides home and back from other Luverne natives almost every weekend, but I kept returning.
At the end of my freshman year, I was accepted into the teacher education program at SMSU – and the rest, as they say, is history.
During the next three years, I met a number of lifelong friends, traveled to three different countries with the choir, joined student government, gained new experiences and self-confidence, and earned my history degree and teaching license.
Even though it was a big step, starting (and finishing) college changed my life and has prepared me, in some way, for almost all of the good things that have happened to me since then.
And so it will be for my former students who are starting college this month.
Just like I faced challenges starting college, so will many of them.
They may have the same feelings I did when their families leave. Some of them will have big financial and social barriers to overcome.
And, of course, the pandemic has changed almost everything about their freshman year experience.
But I know many of them will face those challenges and persist, just like I did.
And, like me, I hope they gain great friends, new experiences, a better understanding of themselves and the world around them, and preparation for a meaningful career.
If they do, their move-in day will be one of the most important days of their lives.
Just like it was for me.