When I left my hometown, Columbia, Tennessee, for college in 1976, I tossed some clothes in the backseat of my Datsun B210 compact car and hit the road to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, home of Middle Tennessee State University.
I don’t remember going to a college orientation. If there was an orientation, I’m 100% sure my parents did not attend. In fact, I remember my mom standing on the front porch of my childhood home and dabbing her eyes with Kleenex as I drove off to school.
Fast-forward to 2025. Last week, my wife and I attended college orientation with our younger son, who will be a first-year student at an area university this fall.
What a difference a half-century makes.
When we got to campus, students went one way and parents another. In fact, the parents were encouraged not to hunt down their kids at the lunch break, lest they steal time from their interactions with other new students.