Only two weeks before college starts. Today’s guest, Kyle, represents tens of thousands of new freshmen wondering what lies ahead. A time for jitters and excitement!

Kyle is excited. He’s comfortable about going into engineering because he likes math and science. He has far fewer jitters than students who step on campus without a direction. Also his dad is an engineer.

He’s jittery about starting something big and new on his own. He still has lots of questions that don’t have answers. It turns out that he needs far more general information about his university. He admits he has to get on the Internet to “read up.” Yes, right away. This is his new life: He should explore the many, sports, social, service, and club opportunities the university offers. This is his home now: he has to get a mental picture of its many new rooms and what they hold for him.

We also talked to Kyle about things, big and small, like how to —

• get the most out of freshman orientation
• narrow his major in his freshman year — a must for engineering students
• take courage: introduce himself during his first few weeks on campus. Everyone is trying to make friends. And speaking of communicating….

Like most students his age, Kyle has never thought to talk to his dad (an engineer) about engineering and different kinds of engineers. Teens often downplay the importance of their parents’ life experiences. Thank you Kyle, for making this point for us! Parents have to draw their kids into conversations. In earlier programs we talk about how: starting in middle school years.