On the drive back to Kansas City to catch my flight, I called my family and some friends to tell them about my interview. The route to my aunt’s house is permanently etched in my brain from four years of attending school in the area. As I turned South on I-35, a beautiful feeling washed over me, similar to that which I feel when I pull onto my street in Oregon after being gone awhile or driving those last few miles before camp on winding mountain roads. The Midwest feels like home to me.
For most of the way I was jabbering on (to whoever I could find that would pick up the phone at 6:30am) about the newly renovated residence halls, or how the guy sitting next to me on the plane had told me Truman has been dubbed “the little Harvard of the Midwest”, or that every native tree of Missouri is planted around campus, or that they have over 100 intramural sports (even including things like poker!), or how I had laughed so hard at dinner with the Res. Life team that I had tears in my eyes (which is surely a sign of awesome-ness).
I had talked Zach’s ear off the night before, after my full day with all the Truman people, and he said, “You know we have to go there, right?” and I said, “But what about Northern? I loved it there too and Bo (my brother who is a senior in high school this year) already applied, got accepted, and is totally stoked about going there!” So Zach says, “Allie. I wish I could have recorded the conversation we had after you had spent all day at Northern and the one we just had. I don’t know if you realize this but your current enthusiasm is so far beyond what I heard in your voice that other day. You just talked for 30 minutes straight and I only got a couple words in. When we talked about Northern, I was probing you with questions the whole time. Truman is the right place for us.” I could feel the truth of what he said but my brother is a big factor in our decision.
I spoke with Bo in the airport later in the day. I don’t think I did a very good job of selling Truman because I focused on all the things that would be awesome about my job, how great the classes will be, how hard it is to get in (hence a higher caliber of student population), and then the campus and buildings. I’m pretty sure he ended up thinking it was school for nerdy over-achievers (which isn’t him) but also isn’t who I think Truman students are either. I called the assistant director of Res. Life at Truman the next day and she brainstormed with me to create a list of awesome programs and things he would be interested in.
The end, or maybe beginning of this story, is that I got the job at Truman! Ten thousand smiles later, a bunch of silent screaming (with joy of course) during the phone call when they offered me the job (the same phone call in which Zach and I were literally jumping up and down with happiness and a framed photo fell off the wall and broke), and many other phone calls to those I love- we’re going to Truman! I start July 1st and we really couldn’t be happier. Well, unless Bo decides to come too! He has agreed to apply and do a campus visit to see if it will be a good fit for him.
Not that it really matters (now that I have the job!) but I spent 15 hours over the weekend hand crafting a fleet of thank-you cards for Truman people. I told Zach, “If I get the job at Truman, it will only be because of these mind-blowing thank-you cards.” But turns out, they like me for me because I got the job even before they got their thank-you notes. J
Needless to say, the Petrie/Velkinburg household is abounding with joy, happiness, excitement, and love.
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