By Carol Bruess
We in Minnesota fully appreciate the change of seasons, don’t we? Here on campus, a shift in the atmosphere is a double-bonus score: it doesn’t only mean we’ve made it to midterm; we’ve also nearly made it to … ah … a break!
If you’ve been on campus lately, you can’t miss the buzz of anticipation. It’s almost like a hunger after a long fast; we eagerly yet patiently envision and plan for the soon-to-be-devoured, delicious respite from winter boots, exams, papers, lectures, quizzes, critical analyses, intellectual discussions and bibliographies.
What does such a buzz look like in the first few moments of spring on the St. Paul campus?
It looks a lot like precisely what I saw the other day as I strolled with my 4th grader (she was literally skipping) and my little dog (he was happily trotting) through campus: Six young men tossing baseballs, seven students beating on drums, a dozen groups of parents and their high school seniors touring, a dad and son with glove and ball, 17 or so students perched on the library steps soaking in vitamin D, three groups sitting cross-legged in circles on the grass, bikes rolling by, flip-flops dug out of storage, and a bunch of students who looked as if they had the urge, but were resisting, their own skip across the quad.
Why not stop by campus or, if you’re already here, come on out of your rooms, offices and classrooms? Get in on the spring action (plus some free vitamin D).
And just an FYI: skipping not required, but highly recommended.