September 3rd, 2019
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Dear Bobcat Parent and Family Members,I trust that you and your family enjoyed some quiet time or time in the great outdoors during the Labor Day weekend. The weather in Bozeman was simply incredible this past week. I got out on my mountain bike and rode with my wife up near Hyalite Reservoir and played catch in the backyard with our toddler. I also spent time this weekend catching up on email correspondence from the first week of school. Thanks to all of you who have been responding with questions, suggestions and notes of appreciation. I do my best to read and respond to all of them. You'll note the frequency of my emails will drop off a little now as we all settle into the semester. After the long weekend, our students should also be refreshed and ready to be back in the classroom. And hopefully, our first-year students are finding their way around campus easily now and getting into the swing of things. Just so you know, students can still add and drop individual classes this upcoming week. September 9th is the last day for students to add a new class, and September 16th is the final day for students to be able to drop or withdraw from a class this semester without a "W" showing up on their transcript. I'll remind you later this fall when the deadline is approaching for students to withdraw from classes, but that's in a few months from now. Though a "W" does not help or hurt a student's GPA, there may be academic implications for students who need to take a certain class for their degree. Students who are confused or need extra advice about adding or dropping classes should drop by our Academic Advising Center. Diane Donnelly and her incredible staff of academic advisors are available to assist students throughout the work week on a drop-in basis. For those of you who are trying to navigate the range of emotions with your student(s) being away from home this fall, I'd like to share a few links that you may find helpful. The first is the website of a mentor of mine, Jeffrey Arnett, who is a national scholar on emerging adulthood. The other is a New York Times article from a couple of years ago with thoughtful suggestions for how to cope with the empty chair at the table. Both are excellent reads about the highs and lows for parents traveling this road of early adulthood and college for the first time. I have a number of my favorite readings for parents listed on the Dean of Students website. If you pick up any of these books or articles, drop me a note and let me know what you think. And finally, just a quick reminder about our upcoming Parent and Family Weekend on September 27-29th. Hotel rooms are filling fast, so make sure you make your reservations and plans sometime this week. We'd love to have you back for the game and all of the other activities. Warm regards,
Matthew R. Caires Dean of Students P.S. Apologies for not including links to the Safe Cats app in last week's message. Here they are for Apple and Android phone users in the App store and Google Play store. |
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Bobcat Parent & Family Program |
