Blog Entry 48 of 92
Charmaine in the city
I've called the Denver area home for more than two
decades now. But this urban/mountain city is still full of surprises. I'll be posting my adventures here, as I explore local eateries, shops and sharing birthday and vacation photos. And once in a while, I'll throw in a music, movie or food review. I hope to keep this blog interactive, so don't be shy to suggest places I should visit. And check it out: I'm on
Brendan's List. Rock on!
Reunited and it feels so good
Contributed by:
Charmaine Robledo/YourHub.com
on 4/4/2007
I love reunions. They're a time to meet with old friends and classmates, reminisce on the good times and, most importantly, compare the size of engagement rings or whose kid(s) is(are) cuter.
It has been five years since I graduated from
Cottey College, a small, two-year, all-women's school located in
Nevada, Mo. Cottey was where I earned my associate's degree and where I had some of the best times of my life.
I am often asked what it was like going to an all-women's college and I tell them this: It's like one huge sorority, but I really liked being in small classrooms and getting personal attention when it came to my studies. And the no-boys aspect? Well, I actually had a boyfriend while I was there and the Nevada "townies" were regular visitors.
To be honest, I didn't even realize my fifth-year reunion was coming up until my good friend,
Autumn, messaged me last December and asked if I was going. Of course I couldn't miss my college reunion! So we planned on meeting up in Kansas City and driving down to Cottey. The reunion was scheduled to be from March 30 to April 1.
Thursday, March 29, I woke up to snow on the ground. Oh no! Thankfully, my flight to Kansas City was still going out, but was delayed for about 30 minutes or so. I left Denver wearing a jacket and arrived to Missouri humidity. And for most of the weekend, it rained!
Cottey's reunions also are called Founder's Day weekends, which honor the founder of the college,
Virginia Alice Cottey Stockard. And ours was not the only reunion happening; classes from 1997, 1987 and all the way back to 1942 were getting together. (Coincidentally, I ran into
Lynn Bartels, who works at the
Rocky Mountain News, because her class of 1977 was celebrating their 30th reunion.)
Friday, March 30, was a day for the alums to register, meet up and also tour the campus. Not a whole lot has changed since the five years I've been gone, but the one thing I noticed that the school did do was renovate the hall bathrooms. They're pretty nice now, with built-in shelves and counters. In my day, we had a baker's rack to hold our toiletries and small pedestal sinks. No counter space at all! My, how times have changed.
While we were at school, Autumn and I ate at this fantastic Mexican restaurant called Casa Azteca. Awesome cheese dip! We decided to eat there on Friday and go back to campus to visit with our other classmates later. Little did we know a tornado warning was issued by the city during that time and when we got to campus, everyone was down in the basement!
Saturday, March 31, the morning was reserved for each class to do a skit or presentation about what life was like at Cottey during their graduation year. For my class, we were all about being comfortable and wearing pajamas and sweats everywhere. I still own a pair of sweats with "Cottey" on the back. During finals week, I spent most of my time studying and sleeping on the couch, so I wore nothing but a shirt and those sweats.
Autumn and I spent the rest of Saturday at Cottey's bookstore buying some souvenirs and touring more of the campus. Our class color for the reunion was red, so most of us donned red during our class photo shoot. Autumn hails from Nebraska, so wearing something red was no problem for her.
One of the major things about Cottey is keeping traditions. As a small, close-knit school (about 300 population), students made up songs and activities about life in Nevada, life at Cottey and to just further camaraderie. I can't delve too deeply about the history of Cottey's traditions because there's too much information and some of it you really can't understand unless you went to school there.
However, here is a favorite song of mine called
Share This Walk:
If we share this walk together, nothing can stand in our way.
If we share this walk together, we can share the love and the pain.
Life can be a challenge, but in our hearts you'll find
A helping hand, someone who understands, a voice that's always kind.
If we share this walk together, nothing can stand in our way.
If we share this walk together, we can share the love and the pain.
I was extremely happy to be able to meet up with my former journalism professor,
Melinda Rhodes. She is a fellow Filipina, and was my mentor and someone I turned to when freshman year was getting tough. She also was the supervisor for the college's newspaper,
The Spectrum, which I was a reporter and the business manager. Sadly and happily, she'll be moving on to
Ohio Wesleyan University, where she'll be teaching full-time.
As the perfect ending for a wonderful weekend, the school served us brunch on Sunday, April 1. Brunch was my favorite meal served at Cottey. Students dressed up for this meal and we ate french toast, pancakes, fruit, cheeses, eggs, bacon, dumplings, strawberries covered in chocolate, salmon on toast and every week the menu would change. It was divine! I have to say, one of the things I miss most about Cottey is being able to eat brunch.
When my classmates and I bid farewell to each other that Sunday, it felt like graduation all over again. I know I'll probably not see these women for another five years, though I am looking forward to my 10th reunion. But I know we'll all continue to either get married, have children, move to another state, get new jobs and keep living life post-Cottey. I guess I'm still trying to get used to this "grown-up" life.
But here's to you, Cottey College: school of my favorite memories. Can't wait to be back in five.
SUBMIT COMMENT
Talk Back : submit comments to the blog
*Note: you need to
log-in to add a comment or rating.
*A comment must be between 1 and 1000 characters.
*Please refrain from using explicit language.