College Tour at University of Wisconsin Madison
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for January 31, 2016
Monday night, Luke had a band concert. It made us all happy.
Tuesday night I went to our Fantasy Football League Awards Dinner. I didn't win crap again this year, but enjoyed the camaraderie with my fellow team owners. Next year, that big football trophy is mine!
Wednesday night I connected with a couple of my old co-workers from Equus. Judging from this picture, Brian was having a good time seeing me, but I'm not quite as sure if Tom was.
On Thursday night, Sheri and the boys and I drove 5 hours to the capital of Wisconsin. Madison is the home of the University of Wisconsin and is very high on Avery's wish list of colleges he'd like to attend.
We woke up bright and early on Friday morning to go to the campus for a day full of different tours and informational seminars.
I had really high hopes for the place when I saw that Zach Galifianakis was hosting our first session. Turns out I was mistaken. He wasn't Zach, but rather a nice man in charge of helping students get into their Honors program. I discovered that after he gave me a strange look when I asked him how filming was going on Hangover 4.
Our next stop was a 3 hour tour of the campus. We were excited when we showed up to the event and saw that some of our friends from Prior Lake, Guy & Keenan Perera, were also going on the tour at the same time. It was fun spending the day with them.
We sat through an informational session and then they split us into groups for the tour. I was so glad I brought my red coat with me because I thought it would help me to fit in and be one of the gang.
The kids all introduced themselves to the group and we were on our way to go check out the campus.
Guy and Miss Sheri were raring to go!
I was a little nervous when we walked by this skull. I never realized there used to be giants in Wisconsin. I hope the rest of them are just as dead as this guy because I wouldn't want to stumble across any of them.
The campus was very unique. I have never been at a college this close to a state capital before. I usually appreciate a much greater separation between my education and my government, but here it's just unavoidable.
At least there's a big clock at this school. It's so much nicer to be able to stare at a building to see what time it is then to have to reach into your pocket and grab your phone.
This big building is called Bascom Hall and was built in 1880. For some reason, they located it at the top of a very tall hill which we had to climb to get here. I was so winded I didn't hear what the guides said for pretty much the rest of the day. I gotta get in shape.
Our tour guides were great kids and did a very nice job of representing their school. Avery really wants to go to school here now.
The next part of our tour was through the college of engineering. They told us they have all sorts of cool tools on site like a nuclear reactor and a million pound test machine. I suddenly had a bunch of new ideas for some viral videos I could make if I went there.
The students have access to a large fabrication lab with tools of all shapes and sizes to work on their projects. I didn't see a lot of adult supervision around there so those students must be much better behaved than I would have been when I was their age.
Our day ended with a personalized tour with an old friend from Prior Lake, Ryan Glaser, who goes to school here currently. Ryan gave us a behind the scenes tour of the dorms and what life is like there. Quite honestly, I was very inspired and impressed with this place and asked Avery if I could go there with him if he gets accepted. I'm not sure if he's too interested in that idea.
Our puppies were pretty frustrated being home alone while we traveled to Wisconsin, so we took them running on the frozen lake on Saturday. That seemed to make them happy.
Here's a video that Google Photos put together for me after I backed-up my photos. I kind of like it.
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