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Carolina Beginnings
We invited alumni to share memories of their first
semester as Carolina students. Excerpts of several
responses are below. Read the rest at
alumni.unc.edu/firstsemester.
“My first semester was the second summer
session at Carolina in 1944, and I was housed
in the Steele Building. Remember playing on
the Steele softball team that won the campus
championship and making the all-campus team
at left field. Believe that we had only 3,500
students, and by Christmas we knew almost
everyone on campus. Went into the Navy in
December of 1944, and when I came back in
1946 found that I had credit for the courses
that I was not able to finish before I went into
service. Carolina is just great!”
Wayne Ronald Boyles Jr. ’ 50
Mount Airy
“I transferred from Stratford Junior
College, a girls school, after one and a half
years to the nursing school at Chapel Hill. I
didn’t know quite what to expect; just knew
that I wanted to be a nurse. Well, you can
imagine the difference in atmosphere! At that
time, only dental hygienists and nursing students were admitted as freshmen. Other
female students had to wait till their junior
year. The ratio of boys to girls was 7: 1. What a
cultural shock, and pleasantly so for the girls.
Lots of dates and dancing! Don’t get me
wrong. We studied and worked very hard, and
had a grand time.”
Norma Cupp Pitzer ’ 58
Sarasota, Fla.
“In September of 1957 I moved into a
two-man room in Alexander Dormitory that
was going to house three of us for the year.
Amazingly, we didn’t strangle each other, and
I escaped the flu epidemic of that year, even
though both of my roommates were in bed
being visited by infirmary staff, who also
brought vats of soup along with their medical
expertise. But it was my mentors that made
that first semester so memorable.”
Lewis Rush ’ 61
class quotes
SARAH MCCARTY ’ 96
around campus so I didn’t get lost. I had the
worst schedule with French 1-2x every
morning at 7: 45. Dorm potlucks, mixers,
study breaks, Thursday nights downtown.
Springtime sunning on the porch roof — an
illegal perk of living on the third floor.
Discovering the record stores on Franklin and
expanding my music tastes. Feeling like there
was a whole world available right there, and
how was I going to see it all?”
Laura Lindsay Drewyor ’ 80
Morehead City
Morrison Dorm has residents again. The dorm was closed for
renovations but reopened its doors to students — freshman
and otherwise — in August.
“I will never forget reporting to a large
lecture room in Mitchell Hall. You know, one
of those that was almost like a deep valley.
Because of my inability to decipher my printed schedule accurately, I thought I was going
to a French II class. The place was packed
with about 100 students. I saw a fellow from
my hometown down on the first row and
went down to sit beside him. The professor
stands up a few minutes later and says, ‘This is
Geography 48. If anyone is not supposed to
be here, now is the time to leave.’ I could not
believe I was in the wrong class! I sheepishly
got up and made my way up to the aisle and
out the door, accompanied by the laughter of
the 100 in attendance. Once outside I took a
good look at my schedule. To my alarm, I
realized I was supposed to be in Geography
48 in that very lecture hall. Being the inexperienced freshman who didn’t know any better, I crawled back in and sat on the back row.
Fortunately, only a couple of people saw my
re-entry.”
Jim Snypes ’ 77
Greensboro
“Moving into Kenan Dorm as a freshman
the fall of ’ 76 and the whole women’s triad
echoing with James Taylor’s Carolina in My
Mind blaring from dorm windows over and
over (how they coordinated that I’ll never
know). Wishing that I had let my parents
bring me instead of riding up with a friend.
Meeting my roommate, a junior, who became
a good friend and taught me how to get
“I remember hauling all of my clothes, furniture and appliances up seven flights of stairs
on move-in day at Hinton James. The lines
were just too long for the elevator! I was lucky
enough to have my suitemate turn into one
of my best friends. The basketball team — and
even the football team — had some great wins
that year, and we TP’d the dorm from top to
bottom after a particularly fun dook victory. We
used to sit on the balcony with our legs swinging, talking to friends a floor or two below us.
We also had a rare Chapel Hill snowstorm
that year, and we would slide down the sidewalk to the front of Hinton James.”
Leslie Stephenson Miller ’ 99
Denver, Colo.
“My freshman year, I remember being terrified. I’d been to Carolina to visit a grand
total of once, and I had no idea what I was
doing in a Southern state. I got lost, missed
most of my first day of classes because I kept
getting lost, but eventually figured the campus
out. I remember Fall Fest and signing up for a
million clubs, then not going to the meetings
for any of them. And then I tried out for, and
made, the fencing team. Crazy — and during
my first set of exams I spent the night at the
UL because of that wild ice storm. Talk about
starting off my Carolina experience with a
bang!”
Jen Kling ’06
Indianapolis
Let us hear from you. Visit the alumni discussion forums and message boards at
alumni.unc.edu and chime in on everything from
the Duke rivalry to the best barbecue.
