SU Here I Come

Only 17 days till I visit the old alma mater, Syracuse University. I was reminded of it today when one of my Chi Omega sisters sent me the lyrics to our school song. Did I remember this? No! What do you expect, it's been 20 years!

Having a daughter in high school, it's time to begin planning for college for her. In fact, one of my other sorority sisters just dropped her daughter off at college last weekend. Where does the time go? My teen has her eyes set on University of Florida. With her in the IB program, I'm hoping this means a lesser beating on my wallet - especially because she wants to go to medical school. Not for any reason other than kicks, I looked up some recent statistics on my college.

Undergraduate enrollment at SU is about 13,000 (slightly more than the 10,000 I recall). Tuition is just over $30K. When I went, $13,000. I'll never forget that amount because my parents reminded me of it often (love you, Mom!). Other factoids: 1130-1310 average SAT scores, 41% of students are from NY state, over 231,000 living alumnae on record. Fun facts: Vanessa Williams was at SU the year before I got there and got her Miss America title stripped a month before I started college; the carrier dome is the largest domed stadium in the U.S. and I listened to the Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen concerts from my dorm window in 1985; I saw Jimmy Boeheim on TV in China with the men's basketball team and he was coach at SU when I went there.

The point of this post - Orange Pride. Coincidentally, the Gators have the same colors as the Orangemen. Divine order?

The SU song:
Where the vale of Onondaga
Meets the eastern sky
Proudly stands our Alma Mater
On her hilltop high.
Flag we love! Orange! Float for aye-
Old Syracuse, o'er thee,
Loyal be thy sons and daughters
To thy memory.
When the evening twilight deepens and the shadows fall,
Linger long the golden sunbeams on the western wall.
Flag we love, Orange,
Float for aye,
Old Syracuse o'er thee!
Loyal be thy sons and daughters
To thy memory
When the shades of life shall gather, dark the heart may be,
Still the ray of youth and love shall linger long o'er thee'.
Flag we love, Orange,
Float for aye,
Old Syracuse o'er thee!
Loyal be thy sons and daughters
To thy memory