ROC to SEA to JFK

A lot has happened in Admissions and on campus since my last post. We’ve enrolled the Class of 2015, we’ve seen the Class of 2011 graduate, and we’ve seen the beginning of construction for the new home of the Warner School of Education and Human Development. Of slightly less importance, I’ve also gotten a lot of feedback about my blog post, which is why I’ve decided to expand upon my first post and create a continuing series.

But before I begin, let me make you all aware of something. When you say to others (or post for all to see on the internets) that you love mascots, you should be prepared for at least two things to happen. One, some of your (obviously less cool) coworkers gently tease you about your love of people dressed as dancing animals (or whatever the Phillie Phanatic really is…. Hopefully a fan can post a reply to the blog and let me know). Two, some students (and one or two parents) begin referring to you as “the mascot guy” or “the counselor who was with the stuffed animal.”

So, before I embark on my new series of Rockytastic (trademark, 2011) blog posts, I wanted to clear a few things up. First of all, I’m sorry, haters, but mascots are awesome. It is a fact. Second, mascots actually bring (or are supposed to bring) good luck to their teams. Don’t believe me? That’s fine. I’m a Bills fan, so luck is a key component of most victories. Believe Dictionary.com. The spelling-bee enthusiasts out there may enjoy hearing that mascot’s language of origin is French…. Just thought that was interesting. You can thank me when it comes up on Jeopardy.

One thing that our mascot Rocky and an admissions counselor like yours truly share in common is that we fly a lot. Granted, he flies on his own (wings, duh!), while I fly with the assistance of a little thing called modern air travel (technology). While Rocky does spend a lot of time on campus here in Rochester, occasionally he gets to take a trip with me and go to part of the country to which his wings can’t carry him.

Recently, Rocky got to span the width of the U.S. by going to both Seattle, WA, and New York City. I was attending the Phi Theta Kappa Convention in early April for community college students across the country. Rocky and I took a quick break and hopped on the Seattle monorail from downtown to the Space Needle. Of course, Rocky then wanted to check out the top of the Space Needle. 45 minutes and 500+ feet up later, we arrived on the observation deck. Since it was raining a bit that day, we didn’t stay outside too long, but we were there long enough to look out over the beautiful Seattle skyline.

Rocky had to be on campus for the next few weeks to greet all the admitted students coming for Spring Open Campus, but then at the beginning of May, he came to NYC with me to “help out” at some of the college fairs all over the boroughs of NYC. One thing that confuses many people who have not spent much time in NYC is the subway system. Of course, Rocky had to ride the yellow line, and getting from Astoria to 23rd Street in Manhattan provided Rocky with a chance to ride the R Train (obviously, his favorite).

We’re back on campus now, ready to greet all the students coming to visit over the summer. Rocky will be getting his shades on soon, and we’ll be visiting some cool spots on and off campus in the coming months. Stay tuned for more updates.