Steps to success

My alma mater has some great marketing talent. Recently they purchased the stairs at Jordan Creek Mall in West Des Moines, near where we live. I've noticed that in the past five years since the mall has been here, Iowa State University has put quite a bit of $ and effort into attracting potential students shopping here.

But stairs - that's pretty clever! Other schools have mere banners.

 I'm not sure how these phrases hit high school seniors, but the statements on the steps pretty much summed up my college experience. I met several BFFs - Sal, Vic, Jane. Plus my guy friends (see below, under broomball). And my very best BFF - Paul.

I'm not sure I really had one aha moment, but my time at ISU certainly was a growth experience.

I did do a lot of doodling on my notes I took during all those lectures I attended. They really were just doodles. We attended a few late night broomball games at Hilton to watch our friends Moose and Steve play with their Stevenson House team. Until ISU I'd never heard of the sport, played like hockey, wearing shoes and using special brooms and a little ball. Then I actually had a chance to play the game myself - not in a cushy indoor stadium, but out in the cold, behind Beyer Hall with several softball players on a team my Atlantic pal Marci Merrick set up. Fun game - and I bundled up for the chill and for falls on the ice! No helmets back then though.

 The view toward the top of the stairs.

The bottom step here says "Hard work that doesn't seem like work". I believe that in retrospect. But at the time, it felt damn hard! Later, when I was juggling a job and a family, college seemed like it must have been a breeze.

Wearing cardinal and gold has become a bigger part of our lives post college. During school we took it for granted! Our basketball team wasn't very good back then so I only went to one or two men's games the whole time I was in school - and no women's games. We attended football - mostly for the party! We didn't have to worry about where to tailgate because we could take liquor right into games back then - nobody checked us.

Through the years I've gotten pretty fierce about my school pride. We enjoy going to football and basketball games and are boosters and financial supporters of the school athletic programs. As my blood donor shirt says - I bleed cardinal and gold.

Students can have a successful experience at any college they go to. But I wouldn't trade my experience for anything! I think Paul, Amy and Jud would tell you the same thing. Iowa State University certainly has been a part of the steps to success of our lives.