Jeff's take on UM-Morris

Hi Everyone

Jeff writing here. Stephen and I are freshly back from his first college visit to the University of Minnesota – Morris, so I thought I would jot down a few thoughts and encourage Stephen to do the same when he gets a moment. Morris, first of all, is in the west-central quarter of the state, about five and a half hours from I-Falls. The drive takes you from the North Woods down into farm country, and it’s pretty easy going. I think both of us were very impressed with the campus. It has about 1,800 students, offers a solid liberal arts curriculum and has done a lot of construction in the last five years to beef up their science facilities.

One of the things that really impressed me is that Morris is a dedicated undergraduate campus. The Minnesota University system is a little different than the schools on the West Coast. There doesn’t appear to be as much direct competition between campuses, with a lot of central authority residing at the main campus in the twin cities. Practically every class at Morris is taught by full professors. Undergraduates get the chance to work in research and as T.A.s One point of pride for the campus is their ability to place students in undergraduate programs. For students going into medicine like Stephen, 80% are accepted at their first-choice graduate program coming out of Morris.

It’s a remarkable campus in other ways too. The entire campus is dedicated to ‘Going Green’. A wind turbine provides about 50% of their power, a bio mass plant is in the works, and they recently built their own water tower to build self-sufficiency. Now we saw the place at its best: no students on campus, a beautiful spring day, etc, but I think we were both favorably impressed. I got the distinct impression that Stephen wasn’t sure he wanted to come back to the Falls for his Senior Year. But back we came, and we both arrived safe by Saturday night. I’ll leave the rest up to Stephen.

Things are good here. School year is winding down, Icebox continues to chug along. Diane could use some prayers for her allergies, however, so keep that in mind. Talk to you all soon.