Coming to Macalester
Making personal connections
By Donald Luecke
Each of my Mac days began with a commute from home on the "East Side.” I attempted to continue close connections with high school friends which unfortunately affected my immersion into the social life on campus, so most of my "remember when" memories are of wonderful people, students and faculty, one-on-one or in small groups.
Driving across Illinois on Highway 12
By Paul A. Larsen
My Dad drove me to St. Paul from Itasca, Ill., when I started school at Mac. No freeway in those days, just Highway 12. I recall stopping on Kellogg Boulevard to ask directions. Lots of advertising signs along the way for businesses in Minneapolis — the Curtis and Leamington hotels come to mind. My first task was to learn how to spell Minneapolis and I finally got it right! After my Dad left, I lit up a cigarette and smoked my way through Mac and Law School at the U of M. Thankfully, I quit smoking 30 years ago.
Little girl from the prairie
By Kathleen Osborne Vellenga
We all know now how easy we had it in the 1950s. Choosing a college was the whole deal. No waiting to be chosen, no anxiety building all through high school about grades, community service, resume so we could get into at least one of our ten choices. I only had to find a college I liked and could afford. The first part seemed easy. The last part I had to negotiate. I wanted a school with a critical mass of international students, an elementary major and the excitement, for this prairie daughter, of a big city.
The affordable aspect meant a school where Presbyterian minister's kids got a discount. The church college my family had attended was cheaper, and I would have had to live up to my sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents who are now listed in that school's "Osborne legacy" brochure thanks to my cousin Tom. The affordable negotiations resulted in attending my home town state college one year, then transferring to Mac.
It took one semester here to feel at home with all the city students, but in the classroom I knew immediately this was where I belonged. Eventually, I enjoyed mock congress, mock United Nations and an unbelievably fascinating UN tour in New York with Dr. Armajani and Dr. Dodge. I did get my license to teach in Minnesota, but the first semester, my memorable teachers were not in education, national or international policy; they were in the physical and social sciences — subjects I had been determined to avoid whenever possible.
Lend me your ears
By Marlene Johnson Lund
I remember my first day at Bigelow Hall. My cousin had put two ears of corn in my suitcase when I wasn't looking. The corn rolled on the floor in front of my new roommate and her parents! I'm sure they were thinking, "Hick from Hickville."
Among friends
By Jerry Boldt
I was a returning Korean War Vet when I came to Mac. I enjoyed all the Vets.