North Central College

We were blessed to able to visit North Central College this weekend. We left early on Saturday morning and went as a full family this time. Trenton was asked to stay overnight so we stayed in a hotel while he stayed with some of the wrestlers like he did at Loras. It's a good way to see if he truly connects with the other wrestlers and experience college life as well. I loved the fact it was only 2 hours door to door. Not bad traffic at all. Pretty much a straight shot there. We started our day by meeting with the Admissions department. We were so politely greeted with passes to the cafe for some breakfast foods on them. I LOVED the fact they had Starbucks in their cafe - I was in heaven!! LOL So after drinking my fav...caramel macchiato, we met with our Admissions counselor to discuss the college, its costs and the jists of the college itself. Some interesting facts we learned...the college is broken into trimesters (three periods) rather than the traditional two semesters, thus adding a few weeks onto the school year. This in turn, allows for the students to take a max of 4 classes per trimester. I think I like that, considering Trenton will be wrestling and he really isn't a "great" multitasker. We also liked the fact that the college is blocks from the train station and could be a great transportation tool for Trenton to come home. They also have a "rental car" place on campus for $7 an hour, you can rent a car and not worry about gas. Not bad if he had to get somewhere. Liked also that the college is in the middle of regular family homes. Gave it a homey atmsophere and is only blocks from downtown Naperville. The city is busy and gives plenty to do. We kind of joked about their "red bike" program. I guess they have about 50 red bikes that belong to campus for anyone anytime. Basically if you see one, you can take it wherever and leave it for anyone to use next time. So, if you ride a bike to the stadium to watch a game, you take your chances at finding nothing there when you come out. Pretty funny but I guess it works. We got to walk around campus and see some classrooms, a dorm room, the stadium and then we were off to meet with the wrestling coach. The dorm rooms that freshman have to stay in are pretty much a normal dorm room. Space for two to a room, two beds, a desk and a closet. Pretty standard. The dorms being split up - boys in one building, girls in another. Everyone sharing a bathroom as well. As he progressed to sophomore, etc he would get other options as housing. The college is in the process of building another field house, which we like, but wrestling would stay in the same wrestling room because they are big on tradition. Interesting. It is smaller than I would have liked with not alot of seating but I guess that's where tradition holds it ground. The coaches are young - maybe younger than Ben and me which is something Trenton likes. Their coaching style much like what he has now...work hard, be in shape to go the full 7 minutes. Trenton liked that. He wouldn't have too much transition that way. We were able to see the football field, which Tyler enjoyed. A nice turf field and the college had a big game...against Augustana (another school interested in Trenton) who was undefeated also (NC also undefeated). North Central ended up winning. The wrestling meet was the same time as the football game so we opted to go to the meet obviously. Very intense and interesting, considering it was against Trine (where we had visited earlier). It was kind of odd for Trenton to see the Trine coaches while on the North Central side, but we still have not committed to anything at this point. North Central very handedly beat Trine and it was nice to see them have that victory. Trenton headed out with the wrestlers while Ben, Tyler, Gabi and I left to eat dinner at TGIF. Gabi was very excited to get a hotel with a pool and hot tub so we enjoyed those amenities. Nice to warm up after a cold visit outside! This morning we headed out to get Trenton and got on the road at 10am. He had a good visit and told us he really liked the guys. Fit in well and did compare it to Loras. He said the main difference...North Central is in the city, Loras...not much to do outside the college. The wrestlers welcomed him well at both schools. He has alot of information to look over and experiences to digest...three college visits down. Probably a few more to go. We are hoping to get a visit in to a DII school. Perhaps Findlay or University of Indianapolis. We could get some money for sports that way. Cost for North Central is comparable of course, to Loras because it is a private school. Around $32,000 per year for everything (without any scholarships). Expensive and hard to swallow but we know there are scholarships and opportunities out there to get it much lower. Had a good weekend...now it is back to the old grinding stone for now. Cold and wet outside and I am not liking it!