IIT - Inventing the Future

Here are two more student memories:

Graham, Visiting Campus and Camras Retreat

1. Last December (when I was a prospective student) I came to the Veteran's Day Open House, and remember walking that cold and windy walk from the lot behind SSV to Herman Hall. However, out in front of Perlstein, this guy in a trench coat greeted my dad and I with a smile and a firm handshake, and said how GLAD he was that we were here. He gave me his business card, and I looked at it as we walked away. I was flabbergasted. This guy, Jerry Doyle, head of Fin. Aid and UG Admissions, was standing in the cold greeting strangers like they were neighbors. WHAT THE WORLD?????? This and the warm welcome I received at the Open House sealed the deal - AWESOME!

2. The first ever Camras retreat I went on last month - We had a day of team building and good times at a camp out near Rockford. 17 Camras Scholars went - we all met near MSV in the morning, and we were bussed out to the camp. We played some ice breaker games to begin, and then moved to trust building exercises. In the afternoon, we did group challenges. I got to meet the upperclassmen Camras Scholars. There was a real sense of community and group bonding at the end of the day. We all agreed it was a success and we're gonna do it again. Just illustrates the amazing opportunities available in the students orgs. that we have on campus.

Muyiwa, All-nighters

Knowledgeable people say that experience is the best teacher. I would have to agree with them because the experiences in my life thus far have developed and shaped me into the person that I am today. These experiences span various stages of my life from birth to high school and now-COLLEGE! IIT has afforded me the opportunity to learn, meet a lot of people and have fun in the process. As such, through time I have nurtured and developed new friendships and together created experiences that are unforgettable. Most memorable of such experiences was one that happened in my first year of college.

When I first arrived at IIT as an International Student from Nigeria, I was really excited about coming to an institution that prides itself on a number of different ideals and traditions that are intriguing to say the least. One of such was the finals week tradition where students literally spend the whole week in and around the 24 hour library. I had the opportunity of experiencing that first hand with a number of friends in my first year. We pulled three consecutive “all-nighters” for our final exams in calculus, chemistry and physics respectively.

By the end of the third day funny enough; we were all so excited and jumpy to be finished that we could not sleep or so we thought. We planned to go grab a bite to eat in a couple of hours so I decided to get some shut eye before then. It was 5pm at the time and it was still pretty bright outside. I woke up, looked outside and it was still kind of bright. I figured I had only slept for a couple hours so I got dressed before realizing it was 8am! I had slept about 15 hours! What was even funnier was that everybody else slept till the next day as well! It was such an awesome experience and I would not trade it for anything other than actually studying on time…but when I think about it…nah! And by the way, the “all-nighters” paid off!