Coming to Macalester
Setting my sights on Macalester
By Deanna Dick
For me coming to Macalester was a dream come true. Before finishing elementary school, a teacher had planted the seed in my head. She lived in the Macalester neighborhood and had students living in her home. I heard many stories of how special Macalester was. Being the last of six children and the only one to set my sites on college, I knew little about college life except that it was what I wanted for myself and needed for my career, and so the fall of '56 found me on campus.
Living at home, I'd start out early in the day. By mid-afternoon I was hurrying back across campus to catch the Grand Avenue bus, juggling my books, and heading off to work for a few hours. Though I couldn't participate in much of the campus life after classes I enjoyed being a student and part of the Macalester community. I was quickly caught up in classes, labs, papers...and more papers, midterms, and finals. I especially remember classes with Dr. Adams, Dr. Mitau, Professor Goldstein and will never forget being mesmerized by the storytelling of Professor Walling in Kid Lit.
I came away from Macalester with the degree I sought, but equally, and perhaps more important, I had a great desire and appreciation for lifelong learning, lasting memories, and friendships that have continued and grown stronger since graduation day in 1960.
A Macalester childhood
By Emily Clark Taylor
Macalester has always been important to me. When I was four or five years old, we lived on a house on Grand and Macalester avenues. My brother and I considered the campus our personal playground. We loved to run and play under the beautiful oaks and hide under the bell tower. There were only two dormitories then and no Student Union, so we had lots of space to enjoy. I watched the students going to dances across campus in suits and formal gowns.
When it was time to attend college, I chose Mac. We lived just two miles east on Summit Avenue, so it was easy to walk there or go by bus. I felt at home on campus because I had explored every corner as a child.
A smart move
By Orv Fenstad
The transition from Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis to Macalester was overwhelming in that everyone was smart. Even in the late 50's it seemed to me that every other student was a merit scholar. Not good for a C-B kid.
Taking math with my den leader
By Rollie Oberg
My introduction to Macalester student life was eye-opening even though I had lived all my early years in the Mac neighborhood. Ezra Camp was head of the Math Department. I had known Dr. Camp for years as my Cub Scout den leader, and he had always called me Rollie. As I was sitting in his classroom that first day, I heard "Mr. Oberg, what is the answer?" I nearly fell out of my chair. Welcome to the formality of the college classroom.
A long and enjoyable journey to Mac
By Brian L. Anderson
I missed Freshman Orientation because I was riding the Empire Building train back to St. Paul from Glacier National Park in Montana where I had worked for the summer. The Great Northern Railway which hired me, made it possible for a very excited teenager to see, explore and photograph the magnificent West. My parents drove out from Red Wing, Minnesota, to visit me. On my day off we traveled over the famous "Going to the Sun Highway" to Logan Pass (elevation 6,664 feet) which the rotary snowplows had just opened on July 10! I re-lived those experiences that autumn in Dr. Waldo Glock's geology class when viewing photos in our textbook of the very glaciers, streams, U-shaped valleys and mountain passes I had hiked over just a few weeks earlier!