Hello friends and Hivers. Today's blog will be about my activity yesterday. I spent almost all of it with my son making a road trip for a College visit. He was invited to attend this visit as a prospective basketball recruit.
We left around 9:00 a.m. to give us plenty of time to meet his 1:00 p.m. start time. The first thing we did was stop at Burger King to get a quick breakfast in. It was around noon when we arrived in Hastings, Nebraska.
My son received a text from one of the basketball coaches prior to our arrival in town and was asked if he brought clothes to play in. It was never discussed that he would be hooping today but it worked out because they had clothes, shoes, and an ankle brace he was able to use. This changed our lunch choice because he didn't want to eat any junk food or eat too much. We looked for a subway but there was not one in this small town. We ended up getting a chicken ranch wrap from a deli inside a nearby gas station.
We were told to park outside the admissions building as there would be a reserved spot for us. The parking sign was a nice recruitment touch, there was a few other things they did as well I'll mention later. The itinerary for the day was to go on a campus tour (1 hour), admissions appointment (30 minutes), business appointment with Dean (30 minutes) and end with the last appointment with the basketball team. Let me show some of the things we seen on the tour.
It was a tour led by a current sophomore student who was from Las Vegas, NV. She was here on a bowling scholarship. There was just one other recruit with us in this tour who was invited by the girls wrestling team, she was from the Salt Lake City, Utah area. We got started on the tour about 15 minutes.
The first two pictures above are at one of the entrances to the campus. The multiple country flags represent the international diversity of the student body. This is an older college campus with many of the buildings well over 100 years old.
The last photo is that of McCormick Hall which has a lot of history behind it. The college was established in 1882 and this was the first building built on campus. Being the first building it was initially used as a dual dormitory and used for classrooms. I guess the students back than didn't have many reasons for being late for classes, haha. In 1976 a fire closed the building down until it was finished being renovated in 1982. Today it is used for some classes.
Above is the campus chapel and some art work that was in front of it. There were several other pieces of art thought out the campus. The campus has around 30 buildings and my son told me this isn't a photo shoot, haha. I decided to limit taking photos as no one else in our group was taking them. I will say about 2/3 of the campus building are older structures. The last few pictures are some of the dorms, a sand volleyball, and a few outdoor basketball courts. The campus also has a few walking bridges over top of creek that runs through it. I didn't ask if fishing was allowed, haha.
Next stop on the agenda was Admissions. They pretty much gave us the steps on what we need to do to apply for the college. After that the went over tuition and other costs. For a smaller division III school the tuition is expensive at 38K a year. Now room and board is just over 12K a year but includes a dorm room and being fed. An explanation of grants and scholarships were explained that lower the tuition cost. The big one will be what the basketball program offers.
Well my son is looking at a Business Administration degree. Most of his classes would be at the building above if he ends up here. What's cool about this building? It's also the place where the basketball team plays.
We met with the Dean of Business first. He explained the program, what activities are available, and what a typical classroom is like. They have a good pot of money from Alumini. One thing it is used for is businesses that want interns that can't pay them. This pot will pay the interns the minimum wage per hour. A good thing about the actual classes is he only takes 2 classes at once every day. They are able to this because the semester is broken down into two quarters. So each class is only 7 weeks long and you end up taking 4 classes each semester. This is good for both a working student and a student athlete. We were done with this appointment at around 2:30.
The Dean of Business passed us off to one of the assistant basketball coaches. The assistant showed us in the locker room where there was a #2 jersey hanging for him to try on. I made a mistake taking the picture, I should have had him palm the ball with his arm forward so you could see his number, whoopsie.
After that we were showed the weight room and trainers room. Once the little tour was over the assistant brought us to a room that was over looking the court. Maybe a VIP room or a press room during games. Looking at the court my son noticed the billboard had a picture of him, haha. That was on the display the whole time we were there and everyone saw it.
The head coach came in shortly after and introduced himself. The coach had quite a few questions for him. Some questions he asked where what do you think your strengths are? weaknesses? What other sports did you play? He described his coaching history, philosophy and what he expects out of his players. He also let my son know how they discovered him. We spent well over an hour talking to the coach.
Alright scholarship or not? The coach did say it's towards the end of the recruitment period for the college. He said the minimum scholarship they would offer would be 11 K but beyond that its really depends on what funds are available in the program. They will also look at what other grants or scholarships pay for. One of the disappointments is this school and all the others in the athletic conference will not cover room and board.
So we were told earlier he would play some pick up games with the team. I was thinking 3 or 4 games but it ended being a total of 8. I could tell he was getting tired but his effort kept going. It was nice seeing him hit and make some baskets. The last few games he was gassed and it showed as his shots were off.
I figured I'd just be off to the side and take a few photographs. That never materialized because the coach sat down next me. He mostly talked basketball but at times it was more personably and occasionally asked questions relevant to my son. One was has he had any serious injuries? Another was what type of defense did he play the most in high school? Just questions he may have forgot to ask my son directly earlier.
It was well after 6:00 p.m. when we finally left the building. My son was excited and a bit down about the whole experience. I was as well too. I just feel it won't be much more than the minimum offer. I guess time we tell and today he got a text from another college wanting him to play in some pick up games with their players.
It was a long day and the ride home took longer. We drove into a storm and it was pouring rain. Asides from the rain the truck traffic just made it even harder to see as water was flying around. Just had to drive slower and be more alert. It wasnt until 9:30 when we got home.
It really was a great experience and I'm so proud of my son. If this ends up being the college he wants to attend I will figure out a way to make it happen. I do however think he will have a few other choices. Again time will tell.
That's all I got for you this time. Take care, stay safe, and have a great week ahead. Until next time!
