Tara is our youngest child.  When it was time to select a college, we hoped Tara would pick one of Michigan’s prominent state universities. Most would be a 6 to 8 hour drive from our hometown, of Bark River, located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  When Tara came home from a summer program at Harvard talking about the people she met from Purchase College and the great programs offered there, we never dreamt that Purchase would be her final choice.

To us New York was too far away. With Tara’s persistence, we visited Purchase College.  Upon returning home from a campus visit, we received a call from the head of the Journalism Department, who called to see if Tara had any questions that she could help with.  She told us about the freshmen learning communities, where Tara would be placed in a living environment with other freshmen with the same interests and take a couple classes with them. The learning community as a group would also be invited to a variety of social events during the semester Purchase.  We covered a wide range of questions.   The department head told us Purchase’s goal was to give Tara a well rounded college experience and an education that would give her the employment skills needed in today’s world.  As parents, it was nice to hear from a college that understood employment was the end goal, but that her own creative and personal development was an equally important aspect of her time at Purchase.  Our doubts of Tara’s choice were fading.

Two years have now passed and the Purchase experience has been wonderful, for both Tara and us.  On a recent visit, we were touring the campus with two of our other daughters, and we ran into two of Tara’s professors.  Both professors stopped to talk, addressing her in a personal manner that made us realize that Tara indeed was more than just a number or a dollar sign for the College.  She is a student, with a name and a face, a student each professor took ownership in.  Each was helping in the development of the person she was becoming.

Proud parents of a Purchase College student, 
Bonnie and Karl Kutz