I'm keeping the dog!

Here is Jesse in his too-big crate, which I sold on Craig's list before the new one came! What a mistake.

I have spent this vacation learning as much as I can about training and re-training an adult dog. My dear friend and her expert dog-breeder friend have suggested that socializing a distant beagle, a roamer by nature, is virtually impossible and certainly not worth the effort. The breeder suggested that I return the dog to the rescue center. Hearing this advice was shocking and upsetting, but it helped me tremendously. 1. I began to accept the situation we are in: I am starting from scratch with Jesse and I can have NO expectations. 2. I love Jesse and having him is great, despite the challenges.

The housebreaking is a challenge, his tendency to chew and destroy given the opportunity is a challenge, and teaching him to be a loving house dog is a challenge.

But, I'm learning. I bought the Nature's Miracle and have cleaned the rugs with it. I bought baby gates to restrict Jesse to the kitchen when no one can be home with him. I've ordered a smaller crate to help with the housebreaking. It should arrive soon. I leash him in the house and force him to follow me everywhere so that he in involved with our lives and daily routines. A puppy would do this instinctively, but Jesse has to be taught to be curious. I've also learned that the walking schedule must be adjusted if Jesse goes out and goes earlier than usual-that it's the duration between walks that counts. I'm reading the Monks of New Skete and that has really helped me understand how dogs think. It has also given me hope that even adult dogs can be taught and retrained to adjust to their new lives and homes. The Monks explain just how to do everything! Best of all, I found a beagle support group on line, so from now on, I'll be posting about Jesse there instead of on this blog.

Happy new year!

The Drama of Housebreaking

12.27.12

I’m not sure why I’m blogging about our housebreaking drama. I guess I wish I had an adult dog housebreaking support group, and this is the next best thing.

We had a setback tonight. Jesse peed in the house again. I was furious with him, and he knew it, although I didn’t yell at him. I stormed and stomped around-the opposite of the neutral tone the articles instruct one to take. Now, Jesse seems afraid of me and is staying in his crate.

I’m trying to piece together what went wrong.

1.   I was at the coop and missed the 5pm walk. Things always go wrong when I miss a walk. Jonathan covered me with two walks. Possible confusion for Jesse?

2.   I noticed Jesse was drinking more water than normal. He hadn’t eaten any food all day, but did once I got home. When he finished the water in his bowl, he went for the toilet- a first to my knowledge. I refilled his bowl. I should have made note.

3.   I was eating dinner later than normal and watching TV. I checked on him just before the bedtime walk time and said, “15 minutes, guy. Okay?” Not okay. I should have walked him.

4.   Suddenly, I saw him trotting through the house, hitting all of the downstairs rooms. I should have stopped eating and taken him out.

5.   He trotted into the hallway and peed on the rug-same spot as Xmas eve-exactly what the articles say a dog will do.

6.   I showed anger as I put the leash on and dragged Jesse outside. It was too late. After the too-late walk, I knocked stuff over, including water, and made huge messes that dripped into the basement. The whole accident snowballed into an even bigger mess.

What did I learn?

·      I SHOULD have bought the Nature’s Miracle.

·      I should have cleaned the rug better.

·      I should have had newspapers down in the kitchen.

·      I should not have given Jesse access to the whole house-yet.

·      I need to buy baby gates to block off the kitchen.

·      I have ordered a new, smaller crate, although the crate has not been the problem right now. It’s just too big for our kitchen.

They say when a dog is accident-free for 6 weeks, he’s housebroken. That’s 42 days. We’re back to day 1.

My Rescue Beagle

Every year that I taught 3rd grade, I read Shiloh to my class. The story made me want, more than anything else, a beagle of my own. Recently, after my friend's daughter died suddenly and proceeds in her honor were to go to the Sean Casey Animal Rescue and, after our beloved Jack Russell Terrier, Phoebe, died after a long and happy life, it happened that I was on the SCAR website looking at a photo of a dog named Jefferson. The site said he was a "beagle mix," probably because of his blue tick coloring where normally the fur is white. His sad brown eyes haunted me and I decided that I would go an meet him.

"Jefferson" was not at Sean Casey's 3rd Street shop when I went to see him, but was housed instead at the new Sunset Park facility on 39th Street. My daughter, Elsa and I went over on a Sunday afternoon to meet him and some other beagles who had come in from Kentucky. Volunteers are allowed to take dogs out for walks and spend time with them. We walked Jefferson first. He was happy to be out. He pranced and pounced when he saw other dogs and children. He walked very nicely on his leash. The second beagle we walked was very frightened of the world and the third was overweight had a coughing fit after running about 30 yards in the park. By comparison, Jefferson seemed the best adjusted and a good choice for us.

We sent photos of him to my friend, Sugar, who thought the dog might be mixed with Australian Blue Heeler-not a good breed mix, she felt, for a city dog. She did not recommend adoption. Sadly, I tried to forget Jefferson.

But I couldn't.

For the next two days, I rushed out after school to visit and walk him. On the second day, the handler at Sean Casey mentioned that he was the only dog in the kennel who willingly re-enters his crate after being out. "I have to lift the rest of them in." It was at that moment that I decided that Jefferson needed to become part of our family. He was SO sweet.

I brought Jesse James home on November 28th.

I have always heard that beagles are hard to train. I've heard that they are difficult to housebreak, they tend to howl, they eat incessantly and will jump up on the dining room table to get food, and that given the chance, they will run away. But, as an experienced dog owner, a former race horse trainer and a current teacher of 6 year olds, I was confident that I am up to the task of raising a beagle.

Ha!

This dog isn't even really difficult-he has a very docile temperament-but no part of having him has been easy!

So, let's run down some of the challenges we have faced:

1. Jesse is not house broken. The first night in his crate, he peed in it, and has almost once every day since then. The second night we had him, I left the crate door open so that if he had to, he could use the newspaper I left down on the kitchen floor. He peed on the newspaper, but he crapped on the  kitchen  floor. He pees when he's had too much water. He pees randomly, even after being out four or five times in a day. I'm tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to housebreak this dog. I've read four books on the subject. Most advice is for puppies but most say training the older dog is much the same. Reward, reward, reward for going outside.

Another problem: Jesse is indifferent to treats, (I've tried two kinds) so rewards have little impact.

So, I have Jesse on a schedule. He walks at 6:30 am, 12:30 pm, 5 pm and 10:30 pm. I have to drag him out in the morning. He HATES getting up. But, once I let him sleep in until 7:30. Too late! He peed his bed. I've had to hire dog walkers for the midday walk while I'm at school.

His last accident was Christmas eve. Keep your fingers crossed.

2. Jesse does not like any treats I give him so rewarding him for good deeds and encouraging him to follow any commands is difficult.

3. Jesse knows no commands. We are signing up for obedience class which will begin January 6th. In the interim, we are working on SIT, COME and HEEL-but this he does naturally, thank goodness. He won't even come to me in the house, or follow me when it's time to go to bed or to eat. I have to leash him indoors to bring him any where. I've never had to do this with ANY dog before!

4. Jesse likes many people. He likes men and he loves the woman who owns IT'S A DOG'S WORLD on Coney Island Avenue. But, he doesn't seem to like me. He doesn't listen to me, he doesn't obey me, he doesn't respond to me when I call his name, and doesn't like to take treats from me. He takes treats from the Dog's World woman, and from his walkers, but not from me.

This is baffling to me. I'm nice. I've spent over $500 on this dog. I take care of him 24/7. What's up with this?

5. Elsa came home during the day last week to have lunch with Theo. While they were eating, Jesse jumped up onto the dining room table. Elsa sent me a photo, otherwise I would not have believed he would do such a thing. I asked her, "What did you say to him?" She said she told him to get down, after she took the photo.

Seriously?

6. The first day we brought Jesse home, I took him out into our large, lovely FENCED yard. He loved it and jumped around excitedly, ears flopping. Within minutes, he had scoped the perimeter of the yard, found an opening under the fence, and took off into my neighbor's yard. He was loose and I had to run around the house, unlatching the locked gate, and chase him down. Fortunately, Jesse didn't realize that the neighbor's main gate was open, otherwise, he would have been gone.

7. The next day, my husband was unloading groceries from the car and, not realizing that we have a NEW dog, let Jesse out onto the sidewalk. "How far can he go?" he wondered. Ha! When Jonathan went back out for the next load, Jesse was nowhere in sight. Jonathan had to call to me and with me barefoot, we chased the dog down Stratford Road, only by chance happening to see him, ears flopping, duck into a neighbor's yard. Thankfully, once we caught up to him, Jesse did not run from us and we were able to bring him home.

8. Jesse is remarkably silent. He doesn't bark, hardly at all, but he will whimper and whine if he sees a dog or something he wants. He does not 'ask' to go out. He does not indicate, in any way, that he needs to go out. Jonathan happened to take Jesse to Thompkins Square Park one night, to the dog run there. Jesse saw a rat through a fence and did that beagle howling thing, over and over. I've never heard him make such a sound, ever.

As you can probably tell, I love this dog with my whole heart. Still there is lots of work to be done, and I have so many questions that I cannot seem to get answers to:

1. Is our crate too big? Jesse is 31 inches long. Our crate is 35". The Sean Casey volunteer said I should buy a 30" crate, but won't that be too small? I honestly don't think it matters because Jesse WILL lie in his pee, something all dog experts say that dogs WILL NOT do.

2. At the Sunset Park SCAR location, they have 'state of the art' crates for dogs that allow for easy cleaning, i.e. there is a grate that allows the mess to fall and the tray then can be easily hosed out. Does this practice then, UN-crate train an animal that is NOT supposed to pee and crap in the crate TO pee and crap in the crate? If they are not walked, the animal has no choice. Is this why Jesse is confused?

3. To choke or not to choke: is use of a choke collar passé? The SCAR volunteer suggested one, Richard Wolters of City Dog recommends using them, but the Dog's World woman hates them and the Beagles for Dummies does not like them either. Jesse walks relatively nicely, but responds better when he's wearing a choke. Should I use it for training only?

4. How much training should we be doing at this point? Should I wait for obedience class or should I begin?

If you have suggestions and/or opinions, please leave me a comment.

Great things about rescuing a dog:

1. For each dog adopted, there is one less in a crate 24/7.

2. Jesse is older and more mature. Even though he makes mistakes, he doesn’t have the puppy behaviors that can be so challenging (although also fun!)

3. It feels good to support an organization such as Sean Casey’s. He works tirelessly to place dogs in homes. Volunteers are needed to walk rescues every day, if you’re interested.

4. Jesse’s new life with us is most likely a big adjustment for him as well, but I do get the sense that he is happier and he’s beginning to enjoy himself.

5. Jesse is a great running companion. He can do 3 miles around the park easily and will build up to greater distances.

Here is the link to SCAR: www.nyanimalrescue.org/

SCAR also has a Facebook Page that lists events and happenings as well as adoption stories:
http://www.facebook.com/SeanCaseyAnimalRescue?ref=ts&fref=ts

The Canyon Is Grand...

This summer, I spent my vacation in and around Phoenix, Arizona with Sugar, my dear friend from college. Sugar wanted to come out west to visit her sister in law, who lives in Tempe, (pronounced Tem-PEE.) We decided to take a two day excursion out of town and head north to the Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon is actually a part of a huge national park. The canyon itself is enormus, spanning a length of 277 "river" miles, as many as 18 miles wide and one mile in depth. There are two rims, north and south, just 10 miles across. However, one would have to drive 215 miles, however, to the north rim from the south. We visited three points on the south rim.

The formation of the Grand Canyon is the story of the power of water. The Canyon was formed by the Colorado River which flows from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California. For 5 or 6 million years, the volume of the water has varied, based on the season and amounts of rainfall. Each rain washed sparsely vegetated soils into the river. The combinations of the steep gradient and heavy sediment loads contributed to the erosion of the canyon walls. This is considered a relatively recent development in the Canyon's history, however, as the rocks in the Canyon walls reveal approximately 12 goelogic layers that are 2,000,000,000 (that's billion) years old.

Grand Canyon National Park visitors in cars can pay one flat fee of $25 to drive through and see the canyon from four points: the Yavapai Geology museum, Verkamp's Visitor Center (inlcuding pioneer history,) Tusayan Museum of Native American cultures, and the Desert View center in the east. There is also a free shuttle bus system that allows visitors to see many more points, but limits the time at each stop. (We saw many people running to catch their buses.) You can also rent a mule to climb down the canyon (something we were tempted to do but did not.) There are also bicycles for rent, hiking trails of varying degrees of difficulty and even overnight camping in some areas. Information provided by the National Park Service Grand Canyon brochure.

Visitors on an overlook

My photos here were taken from three different overlooks of the south rim of the canyon. We were there mid-day on a cloudy day for which there was a 50% chance of thunderstorms. Although we only experienced light rain for a few moments, we could see a storm off in the distance and I tried very hard to capture lightening, which looked spectacular when it occurred.

The storm in the distance

The Grand Canyon is breathtaking. There is no other way to describe it.

Photographs do not do it justice.

Making Curtains for the New Classroom

Lots of people share really helpful and useful information on line, some via their blogs. I decided to write a post describing a simple way to make curtains.

I am switichg grades and will teach 1st next year. This move necessitated a move to a different floor and into a new room. In order to make the room inviting and home-like, I decided, for the first time in 14 years, to put curtains over the bottom halves of the windows. In my new room, there are grates over the windows, reducing the light that comes in slightly, and giving the space a bit of a 'prison-like' feel. I'm hoping that the curtains will soften the look and blow gently in the breeze.

Recently I bought a bolt of suitable fabric at a yard sale for $10. I wasn't sure if the chartreuse color would work for the room until I realized that it is nearly the same color as the tennis balls I will place on the bottoms of each chair leg to reduce noise in the room. I thought the curtains might be some kind of color symmetry that will be pleasing. Also, our curriculum is 'green spaces,' so we'll have a lot of green going on in the room. (I also painted the inside of the closet and the blackboard green to create uniformity in the walls and enlarge the look of the space.)

The fabric is a sheer nylon, and being a former quilter, I have only had experience with cottons. But this fabric cut and sewed fairly easily.

To make curtains, one needs:
fabric
thread
scissors
an iron
pins
a sewing machine
a ruler
some way to measure the size of the window and the fabric-I used yard sticks

My windows are 44" by 59.5" each, and there are four of them. My fabric is about 45" wide, so I knew that I would need two panels to be gathered across each window, and I needed to make 8 in all. To this measurement, I added the hem at the bottom, 2", plus 1/2" to tuck, to prevent unraveling. At the top, I added 3", 2 1/2" for the curtain rod and ruffle, and 1/2" to tuck. So I figured 59.5 + 3 + 2.5 = 65, which I rounded to 66" because I was cutting along the halfway point of a floor tile. I cut 8 pieces of fabric, 66" long each.

The difficulty for me was cutting the fabric without a measuring board-mine got old and moldy and I threw it out. However, I realized my living room floor tiles are 12 x 12, so I was able to lay the fabric out over the tiles, and using the yard stick, I was able to figure out the size I needed to cut. The trickiest part is cutting the fabric straight. It takes practice, a good eye and a steady hand. If yours comes out unevenly, fold it up and cut along a ruler to even it out. Note: unlike other sewers, I do not hem the selvaged (finished) edge on the sides of the fabric. I like the sturdiness of the selvage so I leave it in tact, even if there is writing on it. I just hem and finish the cut sides.

Once I had the fabric cut, I began the tedious process of ironing and hemming. To do this, I sat on the floor watching TV,  and used a cotton rug as my ironing board. You can use a towel as well. Cottons iron easily with a hot iron, but nylon is more resistant to creasing and cannot take a high heat setting. The fabric will stick to the iron and make a huge mess, so using a lower setting is important.

First I ironed down the 1/2" tuck, just eyeballing and estimating the distance. I did not pin. Then I folded and then ironed down the 2" at the bottoms or the 2.5" at the tops, periodically checking the size of the hem with a ruler. After each hem was pressed, I pinned the fabric, placing pins about 6" apart. The pins should point north (up) next to the seam on the east (right.)

Sewing a rod pocket simply entails sewing an additional seam parallel to the hem seam across the top of the curtain. For normal, cheap adjustable rods, usually 1" is sufficient. You can make your rod pocket a little bigger to be safe. Just make sure to leave at least 1" for a ruffle at the top. (This will happen naturally when the fabric is gathered on the rod.) The second seam should be closer to the fold. The edges remain open for inserting the rod.

Note: I made a mistake here in that I had not purchased my curtain rods before I sewed. I knew that I would be using a thin tension rod to hang my curtains, so I made a pocket in the top hem of about 3/4". This turned out to be too narrow and the rods did not fit into the pockets. I will be hanging my curtains upside down, on the bottom hem. Be sure to buy and measure your rods first, and then sew your pocket accordingly.

I use a straight stitch, approximately 12 stiches to the inch. At each end of the seam I reverse stitch about 1/4" after I start to hold the stiches in place. I cut my threads close to the seams.

I hope this article helps someone who has previously not had the courage to try to make curtains. Mine are not perfect, but at a distance, they will look fine. Enjoy!

Revisiting Guilford College

Recent posts describing colleges that we, or good friends, have visited have more photos than I posted for one of our favorite schools and I'm feeling that Guilford got short changed. So, even though we didn't visit again, I am adding additional photos from our first visit (April, 2011) of this beautiful school just outside of Greensboro, North Carolina.

This is the gym, in use at that moment by a seniors' (citizens) men's basketball league.

This is the fitness area.

This is the dining hall.

This is a lounge, possibly outside of the dining hall.

Student run coffee house...

Library

Art on display in the library...

Guilford!

SUNY Geneseo

We are please to post an article by guest author, Heather, mother of Lily, an accepted student at Geneseo. Congratulations, Lily!

I re-visited Geneseo this week with my daughter, Lily, and her friend, for an admitted students event. While her friend is certain she is going to attend Geneseo in the fall, Lily is still weighing her options.

Geneseo is a liberal arts college in the SUNY system, and is considered “New York’s Public Honors College”. The campus is very pretty, surrounded by views of mountains and farmland. The buildings are red brick with plenty of ivy to complete the collegiate look. Prospective students introduced themselves during the students’ lunch, and according to Lily and her friend, most were from Long Island and upstate NY.

Geneseo students: Obviously, they are hard working and intelligent. Our tour guide was a biology major and while he was active in music and theater in high school, his extracurricular involvement at Geneseo was as a tour guide and a member of a fraternity. He spends a lot of time in the library. Sports are popular: varsity, club, and intramural. Ice hockey is the most popular spectator sport. There are theater and music opportunities. Relay for Life was gearing up to start. We were hoping to her about the Outing Club, but didn’t.

During our tour, the President of the college approached and chatted with our group at length. He was very personable, and a great booster of the college and the area.

My favorite things about Geneseo:

Main Street: Downtown Geneseo, only about three or four blocks long, is on Main Street, which is directly adjacent to campus. It almost feels like part of the campus. We ate dinner at Geneseo Family Restaurant, diner food, friendly service, great prices. Main Street seems like an easy, quick break from campus.

GOLD (Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development): GOLD offers students the opportunity to attend workshops, each only an hour long, on various aspects of leadership. Students can work towards bronze, silver, and gold certificates for attending. The workshops sounded very interesting, topics include conflict resolution, ethical decisions, listening skills, communication between genders.

Price: A liberal arts college at a SUNY price. Fantastic.

Goucher College

Okay, either I'm blind, crazy or I have Alzheimer's. The school we saw this week in no way resembles the school in my mind's eye after visiting in 2009. I remember Goucher as having uniform modern red brick buildings and no trees. In actuality, Goucher is comprised of lovely new stone buildings that have uniformity in materials, but vary widely in size, shape, form and function. The campus is full of lush trees, gentle hills, and green grass. It is breathtaking!

Goucher is very different from the typical college campus, established in 18-something and having ivy covered buildings with pillars, etc. (Well, Goucher was founded in 1885, but it doesn't look like it!) Goucher is new, clean, sleek and fancy. It's like a show place. But it is also welcoming and inviting, and it looks like a comfortable place to learn and to live.

We arrived in the morning for a tour and information session. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day and the campus sparkled. The admissions office is extrmemely attractive and even has an a fireplace in the center of a sitting area. The info session, held in a cozy corner of the room with exposed brick and lots of enlarged press, photos and posters, (SO different from McDaniel's charming space but blank walls,) was led by an alum, Josh, who described the school in a very favorable manner. Of course, that is his job, but he seemed genuinely proud of the work that is done at Goucher. I especially likes his summary of what students will gain from a Goucher education. He said, "Students will leave Goucher 1. able to write, 2. able to articulate and to think on their feet, and 3. as creative thinkers."

We had a huge tour comprised entirely of juniors, mostly from the east coast. Seniors visiting that day were called into a special meeting with an admissions dean and given a seperate tour. We saw many places on the tour including an amazing theater, a student art show, the famous anthenaem (the library, workout spaces, radio station, study areas and lord knows what else!) the dining hall, a four bedroom apartment, the lecture hall, dance studios, a typical classroom and the athletic center. The campus was easily walkable, but a common mode of transport seems to be skateboards.

After the tour, we met with the men's soccer coach who was friendly and honest about what he is looking for in a player. He will see Jeremy play this summer when Jeremy attends a four day soccer camp in June.

We were invited, by admissions, to eat in the dining hall, gratis, thank you! and after our meeting with the coach, we had a lovely lunch. I had pesto pasta and the kids continued the pizza contest. I don't have all of the results, but F&M wins best pizza. I chatted with another Brooklyn family and compared school lists. Afterwards, we went back to admissions to return the meal card and to thank eveyone.

Goucher has an artsy and comsmopolitan feel. Students seem happy, but weren't as openly friendly as those at Earlham. As visitors, we felt welcome, not awkward, walking through campus.



I would be happy to have Jeremy attend Goucher, and he would be happy to be there as well.

McDaniel

McDaniel is a small LAC located in cute, historic Westminster, MD. The college is perched on a hill and offers many views in every direction. The numerous quaint and attractive buildings are clustered closely together so that walking the length of the campus can be done in a few minutes.

We toured the school after hanging out for most of the morning with nothing in particular to do. We were invited by admissions to eat in the dining hall for $7.50 each, which we did. We sat amongst students and faculty eating, and noticed a variety of seating options that we had not seen before: single tables, like desks, in long rows that swivel toward a giant TV screen, and long and round, tall bar tables and seats placed in different areas around the cheerful and new dining hall. I ate a Mongolian stir-fry, new and popular campus cuisine (it was also touted at F&M) and the kids ate pizza as part of their survey of to find which campus has the best. F&M is currently in the lead but Juniata is not in the running as we did not lunch on campus there.

After lunch, we ventured back to admissions and Jeremy was visited by the assistant soccer coach, himself a recent McDaniel graduate. They had a friendly chat that was ended by an admissions officer who was ready to begin her information session, upstairs in the quaint house that houses the admissions offices. That speech was canned and pretty void of enthusiasm and excitement. It would have been actually dull had it not been for the presence of newbies from CA on their first tour ever, expressing surprise, glee and excitement about many things she described about the whole college application process. One thing to note: there is plenty of money for merit awards at McDaniel!

The tour was, by far, the highlight of the visit as we had two very charming and entertaining tour guides. Both love the school shared their favorite aspects of McDaniel with us. It really does make a difference seeing the inside of buildings and learning the stories behind them. We each felt a greater admiration for the school afterwards. Highlights for me are: the diversity, the “red square” (the quad), the football field with lights, the library, the lone lecture hall, and the athletic center.

When I first arrived at the admissions office, I sat and read the tiny amount of literature available about the school. I picked up a new book, America’s Best Kept College Secrets. I was happy to read about McDaniel in that book because it is not included in my bible, The Fisk Guide to Colleges, at least not in the edition that I have. Many good schools are omitted. However, after reading the description of McDaniel, I have to say it was pretty thin and devoid of accolades compared to that book’s descriptions of other schools we have visited and really liked. It was hard for that author, as it is for me, to pinpoint what is is that makes McDaniel really special. It's a nice, generous little LAC in a nice area and its acceptance rates are fairly high.

Franklin and Marshall Day Three

This was my third or fourth visit to F&M as I toured with Elsa and later stopped by for a few self-guided tours with Jeremy when we were in town for soccer tournaments. The school actually quite a reach for Jeremy and perhaps should have been deleted from this tour, but Elsa and Heather both like it enough that I thought Celeste should see it.

The school is beautiful, and full of old and new, detailed red brick buildings that surround three different quads.

There is a public park in the middle of the campus, creating a whimsical effect: colorful slides and swings near classroom buildings and in view from the back of the library. F&M is a college-y college and has traditional aspects such as Greek life, (about 30% of students participate,) a football team, and a politically diverse student body. I heard a parent in admissions explaining most campuses are so liberal but that there must be some sort of “moral compass” in the school that they choose for her daughter.

One aspect of F&M that is unique is that each student is assigned to a “house” with which they are affiliated for all for years, regardless of whether or not they live in the house. The house is determined, not by a sorting hat, but by the freshman seminar that the student selects and is assigned. Each house has academic support (professors have offices on premises,) in addition to residential advisors (which are called something else.) The house has study spaces in the lobby as well as small classrooms in which the seminars are held!

Both our admissions dean, Katie, and our tour guide, Steph, emphasized the close nature of the relationships that students form with professors. Steph also sang the praises of librarians who specialize in helping students gather sources for research papers and said she was able to check out texts for her paper on Chinese Hermits which had not been touched for decades.

While I was attending the information session, Jeremy wandered over the the athletic center and found the men’s soccer coach. Although Dan was not expecting Jeremy (oops!) they had a nice chat and Jeremy was invited to observe practice later in the afternoon. To kill time, we window-shopped in lovely and very cool Lancaster, a real draw for F&M. On the weekends, Lancaster has the oldest public (farmer’s) market in the country!



F&M is a very nice little school. Based on the location and reputation, it is an excellent option for many students, but it will be a reach for Jeremy if he applies.

Juniata Day Two

Today’s drive was not nearly so far. Last night we drove from Richmond, IN to Washington, PA where we stayed in a Day’s Inn-another story.

This morning, we drove approximately 3 hours to Huntingdon, PA to Juniata College. The drive through the mountains along Route 22 and 322 was breathtaking. And, Juniata is nestled in a very charming little town as well-much more so than Richmond.

Juniata is another of the CTCL schools described in Loren Pope’s book, Colleges That Change Lives. It’s bigger than Earlham, 1600 students, but shares some important characteristics such as the absence of Greek life and a strong sense of community. Juniata prides itself on several annual ‘traditions’ that most everyone seems to love and enjoy. Like Earlham, there is no “information session” for families, but instead a one-on-one with an admissions counselor for most all student visitors. We met with a terrific counselor, Rylan, who Jeremy will see again at his school this fall.

The Juniata campus is attractive and comprised of a variety of older and newer buildings that blend together well and surround a quad of sorts that slopes down a hill. Some of the newer buildings, including a classroom building that we saw, have those awful institutional cement blocks that remind me of prison cells, but others, like one dorm we saw, have beautiful (plaster?) walls and classic wood trim and moldings. There are two dining halls, one on top of the other, which look nice enough, one with a more limited schedule, and the other open all day. We didn’t eat there, though, so we can’t comment on the food. The entrance hall to the student union is particularly unimpressive, however. But, as Jeremy noted, most students probably just pass through the entranceway and do not take much notice. Seeing it, however, reminded me how beautiful the student center at Earlham is.

Our tour guide, a junior named Rachel, was bubbly and enthusiastic about the school. She, too, spoke at length about the traditions and looks forward to the many annual events that contribute to a strong sense of community. We didn’t meet the soccer coach, but left a note and a tape in his office in the athletic center, which is very nice and includes a pool!

Celeste is especially thrilled as the school offers her major, which they call POEs, Programs of Emphasis. Original! When we first arrived and drove through the campus, Jeremy didn’t think he would like Juniata. But he left liking the school very much, which proves how important a tour and interview can be!