<p>Our daughter is moving into Cerro Vista on the 13th and then participating in WOW. So, are there activities planned for parents on campus that evening before we head back home to the empty nest? If not, what are other parents planning to do in the surrounding environs? Do the different colleges have different activities? Our daughter is enrolled in Architecture and Environmental Design.</p>
<p>Hi flydad,</p>
<p>It looks to me like the kids are officially scheduled to start life without us at 7 PM. I’m planning to get an early dinner with my daughter, and then fade out. I see the afternoon session for parents, and there is a reception for parents from out of state that lasts until 5:15 (not on the official schedule.)</p>
<p>I moved a freshman to college two years ago, and to be honest, I was ready to collapse once we had finished hauling stuff, running errands, unpacking boxes…</p>
<p>[University</a> Housing - Cal Poly](<a href=“http://falllaunch.housing.calpoly.edu/launch2009_schedule_highlights.html]University”>http://falllaunch.housing.calpoly.edu/launch2009_schedule_highlights.html)</p>
<p>Our plan is to help our son move in to Cerro and take care of any errands before the parent workshop in the afternoon. Then we are going to head home to be with our daughter and rest up before work the next day. The students have an activity at 7:00pm, so my guess would be that our son will want to have dinner with his roommates. We have a 3.5 hour drive home and there will be traffic since it is a Monday. </p>
<p>I know that we will hate leaving, but we also need to let our son “bond” with his new roommates and get home at a decent hour. (before 10:00pm) </p>
<p>I think many families will be going out to dinner on Sunday night and maybe leaving around 5:00 on Monday night. It all depends on the student and what they want/need and how far you have to drive home. I guess some families stay over on Monday too. That would be nice just to take your time… but many people have to get to work and school the next day. I can’t say that I like this Monday move-in!</p>
<p>Flydad^Congrats on your daughter getting into Arch and Cerro! It is very exciting! best of luck on move-in day!</p>
<p>We dropped our daughter off last September and my husband and I stuck around for an extra day to just enjoy SLO. (We drove 16 hours to get there!). It was fun to get to know the town a bit and let my daughter settle into the dorm and meet her new friends. We stopped by to say goodbye in front of her dorm the following morning (that wasn’t fun!) before we drove back home.</p>
<p>Good luck to your daughter in the Arch program. It certainly is an excellent program, but tell her to be ready to be very, very challenged. I cannot believe how much my daughter learned in her first year there.</p>
<p>As hard as it is, after you have helped unload all of your students belongings, resist the urge to linger and help them move in. They are moving out on their own after all, and even the simple act of unpacking and setting up their rooms on their own is an experience that will start the process of them building their confidence, self-esteem, and independence. You’ll be surprised ( and proud ) of how well they do without our help.</p>
<p>H and I are driving D down to SLO on Sunday and returning home Tuesday. We plan to have dinner with the roomies family Sunday eve. As for the process on Move in Monday - well, we’ll just go with the flow. I decided we should stay the extra night incase there are errands which need to be run after she moves into the dorms. That said, I told D she could just text us if she needed anything and we’d be happy to drop it off ‘under cover of darkness’.</p>
<p>Boy, this is tough!</p>
<p>Becoming an empty nester will be hard, so instead of rushing back home, we are going to stay at North Pismo Beach for 2 nights and look around the surrounding area. Really, I’m in no rush to come home - so a short vacation will be nice. We figured we will move our son in, hopefully meet the roommates, then move on and let our son begin his college life. The bright light of all this is what a fantastic school! We will leave confident that he is in great hands, a perfect fit for him! We are so excited for him!</p>
<p>We didn’t linger much last year as drop-off day was a zoo. We checked him in, unpacked enough to take the boxes back, made sure his lan connection worked, put some money on his laundry card, slipped him a few $20s for ‘incidentals’ and got out of town. The kids were all anxious to get their rooms set up the way they wanted and to meet everyone on the floor. I would really recommend that parents make their goodbyes short and sweet…</p>
<p>All good advice–I was really just wondering if there was something official going on. This is the last of our kids to head to college and beyond, so it’s not like we’ve not been through it before–one at University of Chicago, and the other at Lewis & Clark. The UofC daughter just left this morning for 10 mos. in Russia on a Fulbright Fellowship. Son is heading back to South America follwing his recent graduation from L&C. The last kid has her on trail now to blaze…</p>
<p>No ‘official going ons’ as far as I know. Cerro Vista has two parent meetings in the afternoon - attend either one. I originally heard it called a ‘parent send-off’, then a ‘parent meeting’. Anyone know what that is about?</p>
<p>Hi, does anyone have an incoming ME student and/or a student living in Santa Lucia? I have a son entering in ME but living off campus because of medical issues. At SOAR, I asked the housing person about any programs for integrating off campus kids. She suggested my son get connected with Santa Lucia, through some sort of person who is functioning in an RA-type role (cannot recall the name). She said my son could be on the list-serv and attend study sessions, social events for engineers, etc. He is not getting any information about this, though, since he is not registered with housing. If anyone has a student in either or both of these circumstances (ME and/or living in the engineering housing), I would greatly appreciate a PM. Until my son arrives and gets integrated, it would be very nice for him to know when the on-campus engineering students are hearing about WOW events and Fall Launch events. Thanks very much! </p>
<p>As for activities for parents, I know there is an out of state parent reception but I do not know of other activities. I hope people will post them! I will be helping my son clean and assemble “lovely” Ikea furniture those first few days.</p>
<p>^^ Hi ParentalUnit58~~</p>
<p>Listen, I just sent your question to a friend of mine whose daughter is an Industrial Engineer major. She lived in Santa Lucia last year and I know was very involved with the engineering events and study sessions, etc. She’s a very serious student. This year (sophomore) she’s going to be an RA, but I’m not sure which dorm. It might even be in Santa Lucia. I don’t know. But, I’m hoping her mom will pass your questions on to her and maybe she can steer you in the right direction. I hope she can! I’ll let you know.</p>
<p>Thanks, 2Leashes. If a PM is needed, here or FB is fine. Thanks again.</p>
<p>^^^ Well, her mom replied right away. She had forwarded my email to her daughter. But, so far I haven’t heard back. I know she’s busy with her new RA-duties. They moved in already and are having meetings and workshops. It might be that she hasn’t even read it yet or just hasn’t sat down to reply. As soon as I hear from her, I’ll PM you. She’ll be an RA in North Mountain (Lassen) this year, but she works with the RAs in Santa Lucia since it’s the Engineering hall.</p>