He is a Freshman!!!

Andrew, Patric, Gabriel, Philip, Quebec Aug. 2016 

I am excited for what the year ahead holds for my son, Andrew.  He begins the next phase of his life as a university student at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.  He is embarking on a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and he is living in residence.

Last year we decided to defer sending him to university for a year and I think this was the best decision for him. He spent the year taking critical writing and physics courses. He even got his drivers license, I think it was time well spent.

Andrew  Chipman House, Acadia, Aug.2016

I can see already, that he is much more mature and self-assured than he was last fall. I am confident that he will be able to navigate through the next year with less trepidation and more confidence. For sure, he was plenty nervous the day we dropped him off at his residence, as were all the other freshmen students.  He said, could you just take me back home with you?  I told him every experience he had leading up to this day was to prepare him for university.  During his high school years we enrolled him in summer courses at various universities across Canada.

Laval University was five long weeks of intensive French immersion, which he survived.  Quest University, located in picturesque British Columbia was four weeks in the study of music and writing, which involved outdoor excursions to take advantage of the scenic environment.  He really enjoyed his time there.  University of Toronto, right dab in the middle of the city provided him with an opportunity to see what it would be like to study law when he completed the Aboriginal Youth Summer Program at the faculty of Law.  Something he is thinking of pursuing after undergrad.

All these experiences provided him with leadership, spiritual and emotional growth.Still, it was not easy leaving him. He promises me a blog on his first week impressions of university life, which I will post here.

We drove to Nova Scotia, it took us two days!  

 

I was a sad mama, leaving him behind for the long drive back home.  L Thankfully texting keeps us in contact on a daily basis.  As he becomes more comfortable at university, I know his texting will become less frequent. But at the moment I am enjoying this new way of communicating with him and I am excited for the amazing possibilities and growth that university will afford him.  

Andrew will be back for Thanksgiving and I can’t wait.