The beginning of something great occurred 150 years ago when an oxcart laden with books lumbered into the town of Adrian, Michigan. As the legend goes, that's how my alma mater, Adrian College, got its start. The Michigan Union College in Leoni, Michigan closed its doors and the library holdings were transferred to the brand new Adrian College.
To me, there is something truly compelling about that image. Picture a spring day in Michigan. The roads would have been mud and the weather at that time of year is unpredictable, anything from deep snows to warm and sunny with the possibility of anything in between. Sixty miles by oxcart could have taken a week or more. On the other end Asa Mahan, founder and President of Adrian College awaited that precious cargo so that the school could truly begin the task of educating young people. (Leoni had been deemed a bit too immoral as it had become known as "Whiskey Town.")
I attended Adrian College in the mid 1990s, a time of quiet turmoil for the school. Attendance reached near all time lows and the school was struggling to survive. Truthfully, the school could have easily slipped into obscurity and become a footnote in the annals of Michigan history. Something needed to be done and that something came in the form of an intelligent, charming, energetic and captivating new President, Dr. Jeffrey Docking.
Before I get to him, I'd like to talk a little bit about why I love my school. First, I never really thought about going to college. I struggled in school with a solid B/C average. The thought of going to college, well, that's what other kids did. My friends, for example. My three best friends were the top five students in our class. AA was a co-Valedictorian, CP was the Salutatorian and JB came in number 5. I ranked 45 in a class of 145.
I think the struggle for me involved figuring out what I wanted to with my life. A question, I might add, that I'm struggling with again 16 years later. In high school the thought made me shut down. Then I took a yearbook class and I found my calling, so to speak.
I love to write and I love design and the deadlines and ink and rustling papers. I love talking to new people and trying to get answers to questions or explain difficult topics. I have an insatiable curiosity. I want to know! Yearbook gave me the smallest taste of that. It also taught me time management, hard work, and the gratification of accomplishment.
Suddenly the no-direction girl wanted desperately to go to college. But I'd messed around and ruined my grade point average. I don't do well on standardized tests. Taking the ACT nearly drove me insane - twice.
Then came the search for the right school. I found one in Maine that I liked and there were the ones in Michigan, too. Once I actually visited Maine and the reality of the distance from home hit, that school was out. I visited campus after campus in Michigan, but nothing appealed to me. Nine schools. Finally I decided to check out Adrian College.
There is a thing with me. I just know stuff. I know what car I will buy or apartment I will live in or man I will marry. I just know, within a second, that this is the one. Late into the spring of my Senior year I stepped foot on the campus of Adrian College. I knew as soon as my foot hit the ground. I would be going here.
I loved the campus and the people were so nice. Not overly friendly or sugary sweet, but genuine. I couldn't believe how refreshing that felt after so many failed excursions to other colleges and universities.
I didn't know that my greatest lessons at college would be both academic and interpersonal. I made friends at Adrian College that I have to this day. My professors showed concern for students because they knew them as more than just students. I flourished academically, getting on the Dean's List seven of eight semesters, and personally, making friends from all walks of life.
Adrian College is the place I consider home. That's what it came down to for me and so many other alums.
Dr. Docking became Adrian College President the same time that I joined the Adrian College Alumni Board of Directors in 2005. He came in at the lowest point for the school. Enrollment hovered around 800 students, the lowest levels in many decades. The attitude on campus had become stagnant and even negative. What could this new guy possibly have to offer? How could he really make things better?
I'll tell you how.
It's called Renaissance I and Renaissance II. In phase one, build sport facilities, develop new teams, encourage intramural sports, develop extra curricular activities. Hire coaches and advisers and then have those people go out and recruit. Boost the enrollment. Flush with new funds boosted by the enrollment, revamp the academic programs. Implement new institutes of learning. Reorganize departments and renovate buildings. It works.
Enrollment has grown by leaps and bounds. New construction and renovation projects dot the campus. The once struggling institution is better now than it has ever been. The negative attitude has vanished. .
After 150 years, going strong. Not bad for a place that got its start on the back of an oxcart.
