What’s It Like to be a FROG
Friday, August 21st, 2009I was a frog on Tuesday.
My FROG shirt
That stands for First year Resident Orientation Guide. I was supposed to help new students move in to Parks Tower, but I was scheduled to help late in the afternoon. By the time I arrived most of the new students had already found their rooms thanks to about thirty student staff members who carried boxes and pushed large plastic containers filled with computers, lamps, pillows, and other necessities of residence hall life.
I couldn’t help but remember my residence hall experiences many years ago at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. This first came to mind a couple of months ago when my “Pointer Alumni Newsletter” reported that my old dormitory, Hyer Hall, was going to be torn down and replaced by a new modern apartment style residence hall. I loved Hyer Hall which housed a mere 200 students (all guys).
UT’s Parks Tower, on the other hand, houses 665 first-year students on sixteen floors. Needless to say it’s coed. But that’s only one improvement over Hyer Hall. The dining facility is on the first floor and is open until midnight. The dining hall at Point was only open until six p.m. My friends and I used to watch Walter Cronkite and the CBS News at 5:30 on the only TV in the place, which was in Hyer’s basement, and then have to run to get to the dining hall before it closed.
On Tuesday, since there was plenty of help, Sandra Alef, the hall director, took me on a tour of Parks. We visited four floors and met a number of R.A.s, mentors, and G.A.s who work for Sandra. They all were enthusiastic and anxious for fall semester to begin.
I have a new blue t-shirt that proclaims that I’m a “frog.” Frankly, I don’t remember frogs or anyone else helping me move into Hyer Hall. So, I’m proud to be a UT frog and I hope all those freshmen who I almost helped will have a great time living in Parks.
Bill is in charge of the university's political activities with the City of Toledo and Lucas County, the State of Ohio, and the federal government in his role as vice president for government relations. He was in charge of the legislation that merged The University of Toledo and the Medical University of Ohio. His main duties include coordinating activities with the Ohio Board of Regents and tracking budget and education legislation.