So Proud

We spent the morning at the mall and walking through campus.  We were happy that Cal wanted to spend that time with us.  We told him that he could pick our lunch spot.  Cam and Meg were thrilled when he chose Noodles & Company.  After lunch we walked back to the new media school to take a picture with the Ernie Pyle Statue.  We parked at the Union and were able to give Cal a ride back to his dorm before he met with his speech group.

On the ride home I had a lot of time to reflect on Cal's time at IU so far.  He has told us a lot of great stories.  My favorites have revolved around how well he is doing academically.  First, he has earned an A on each of the tests or speeches he has given so far.  In fact he received a 95 on his Accounting midterm - a weed out class for the Business School in which 30% have already dropped because they failed the midterm.  He was also sure earlier in the week that he bombed his Econ test which actually posted a 95 with the curve.  The class average was 70%.

Cal has also learned to navigate the social life at IU without being drawn into the party scene.  It does sound like he tends to hit up all of the events that offer free food.  He disappointed Parce and Chokey at the KFC buffet, however, as he couldn't keep up with either one of them.  The best story he told us this weekend was his experience with Jayce at a study group.  Jayce invited him to attend an Econ and Finite help session, but didn't quite give him all of the parameters.  As they left, Jayce asked him if he noticed that he was the only white guy in attendance.  At that point he told Cal that it was a study group for minorities.  It didn't surprised me at all  that Cal hadn't noticed.

Everyone's college experience is different and I wasn't sure what it would be like for Cal.  How awesome it is to leave him knowing that he has totally embraced the academic side of IU and has found means to fill his down time with positive activities such as basketball and intramural soccer.  He'll be home in two weeks for Fall Break.  Looking forward to seeing him then.