I live in the same residence hall that my mom did almost thirty years ago. She lived on the second floor in the late 1980's, while I live on the fifth floor in 2016. My mom was a bit upset when she found out that I would be living in her old residence hall. "It was the party dorm" she said "my roommate and I chose to live there because it had the loudest music." "I'm pretty sure a lot has changed within thirty years" I replied, but she was still worried.
As you can probably tell by the title, both of my parents went to the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater, the same school that I currently attend. I never dreamed as a child of attending the same university as my parents the way some children do. Growing up, my parents made it clear to my sister and I that if we got good grades, we could attend any college we wanted to. As a senior in high school, I chose Drake University as the college of my dreams. However, two years in, that dream began to change and I transferred to UW-Whitewater to pursue a new major and to be closer to home. My parents,of course, supported this decision and were happy to welcome a new Warhawk into the family.
My dad was the first out of the three of us to attend UW-Whitewater. He came to study elementary education starting in 1986. My dad was also the student manager of the ice hockey team, a sport that has since ceased to exist at UW-Whitewater. He lived in the same residence hall for all four years and is very proud of that. One of my dad's favorite memories of attending college was interacting with the checker lady at the dining hall. He still asks me if she's working there today.
My mom started attending UW-Whitewater in 1987. She majored in communications. Since I am also majoring in communications, my mom and I have great conversations about projects, classes, and buildings. My mom once had to create an radio advertisement for the hockey team as a class project. She said that she chose that subject for her project because not many people would go to the hockey games as they were in a different town. My mom and her roommate liked to play tennis, however they were not very good at it, so they would play in the rain when no one else would see.
Both of my parents loved their time at UW-Whitewater. They loved the beautiful campus and the small class sizes. As for me, even though my journey at UW-Whitewater has just started I am glad to call this place home. I'm excited to be attending the same university as my parents and I see it as a kind of family tradition. I know that like my parents before me, I love this university and I will find happiness and success because of it.
