The Sign Of The Moose!

Well you might be wondering, of all the colleges located in New England why on earth did I pick Utica College? In fact, I have been "nudged" to attend Utica College from many sources since 2006. I believe that my exposure to the program at U.C. was slow and progressive and began with a co-worker in the Special Education Department of Nauset Regional School District. She was a COTA herself back in the 1990's and graduated from the weekend program at U.C. as one of the first classes to graduate in this bridging program. At the time she lived in Rhode Island, and experienced a similar 5 hour commute as I do now. Needless to say...she talked a good talk. The seed was then planted, and grew into a true possibility. I decided that some day it could be worth a little effort to pursuit information, but at that time I wasn't ready. I spent some time investigating other COTA to OTR programs and found another in Massachusetts that I thought would fit our budget and schedules. Later I found out that the schedule would not work for me, so I guess 1 out of 2 isn't bad, but not a "perfect fit". So, this gave me time to take prerequisites needed to apply to any full time program; met some great people along the way; and prepared me for the workload to come. In the meantime a few years pass as I continued to home school our children, work, and attend part time classes at a local college. In the spring of 2009 my husband, children and I decided to take a trip to Utica College to see if this is the school that's a "perfect fit"for me. Arriving on campus was a strange experience. I felt like I was intruding upon a private community of college students that were at least half my age, until my husband and I met Paula. She is in the position of advisor for the weekend O.T. students. She answered allthe questions we had (and then some). We toured the newly constructed health science building and we met staff and students that were attending the same program. We both felt a vibe of warmth, safety, and acceptance so far. At the end of our meetings, we headed to the college bookstore in the student center building. It was then that I had true confirmation that I was suppose to attend this school! The sign came in the form of my favorite animal of all time....MOOSE! Yeah I know, why Moose? They are somewhat a homely looking animal that is extremely disproportioned, and they are oblivious to any other objects in their path, especially cars. Regardless of how ugly you think they are, I just love them. My love for these awkward wild beasts might have started from repeat cartoons of Bullwinkle when I was little, or actually witnessing one day after school the infamous "Moose on the Loose" in my own backyard in the city of Worcester., or my young adult infatuation of the classic "Northern Exposure" t.v. show. Well, whatever the reason...I love Moose! Always have, always will...and now I bet you can imagine what mascot was printed all over the school sweatshirts and jackets! Moose, Moose, Moose. Of course the deciding factor was the combination of all factors we experienced this visiting weekend. So here, I am...driving 5.5 hours away from my home to Utica, New York, every other weekend, just like my co-worker did over 10 years ago. And so the adventure begins..........