¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä

In May my son Saroj Shilpakar (Geog’10) graduated from ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä, which may sound odd, given we are only 14 years apart. But Saroj left Nepal five years ago to live with my husband Tom Rutkowski (CivEngr’03) and me and quickly became part of our family. We taught him how to rock climb, brought him to concerts at Macky, took him to the East and West coasts and helped him apply to ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä.

I remember how proud Tom and I felt the warm August evening when we moved Saroj into his Smith Hall dorm room. But when we drove away with our 10-month-old daughter, we worried. What if ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä was too big, too hard, too American for a shy 19-year-old? In Nepal, he got so homesick on a school field trip that his teachers sent him home.

Instead we’ve seen Saroj transform into a self-assured young man who marveled at the accessibility of his teachers, got involved with campus groups and grew intellectually. I don’t believe there was a day at ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä he took for granted.

As I watched him graduate, I thought of those who helped me through college. Who helped you through ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä?