ALIVE: Freshman Orientation 2002

The paperwork came in the mail as soon as I decided where I was going to go to college.  We registered for the orientation program and my mom and I were going to ALIVE (the WSU freshman Orientation) July 20-22, 2002.   

That day came.  Amber and Lauren went with us for the ride over.  That trip was my second time ever going to Pullman.  It seemed really long but we finally got there.  We parked the car, stood in line and signed in.  In the packet contained schedules, paperwork, identification, what group we were in, our room numbers and random miscellaneous information.  We went inside Stephenson’s lobby, got the keys to our rooms, and packed the stuff up the elevators and into our rooms.  I was in Stephenson East room 409.   

My roommate for that weekend never showed up, so I had the room to myself.  Amber and Lauren’s roommates did show up and they hung out with them.  I went and hung out with my mom.  We decided we were hungry so we gathered Amber and Lauren and drove to Moscow and had a sub at Blimpy’s.   

The next day we got into our groups and we got the tour of campus, went into the library, the Bookie, the REC center, the CUB and other random places on campus.  While on the tour, my orientation counselor (OC) told us, by the time we are done with WSU, most of your wardrobe will consist of crimson and gray.  I kind of laughed at her but she was right.  Most of my stuff I brought home from college was indeed WSU riddled.    

The second day we took our Math and English placement exams, created our email accounts, met with our advisors for class schedules (be sure to go to METRO and click on the bus) and got our Cougar Card.  By the end of the three days, it was time to say our goodbyes, pack up our stuff and look forward to August 26^th.  

 I didn’t realize how big the campus was, how much walking up hill we had to do and especially how hot it was in July.  I just about died walking around with my orientation group.  I didn’t really make any friends in my Alive group but I did see them around campus every now and then for the next five years.   

A Thank You To Coach Willmarth

 My Mom and Grandma Karen made a basketball quilt for Willmarth from the senior girls who played basketball for him throughout high school.  Each player wrote a thank you for on of the quilt blocks.  We gave it to him during our banquet.  Here is mine:

Over the past four years I’ve learned A LOT about basketball.  There were a few times things didn’t go the way we planned but we made it through it.  And there were the times we had fun and laughed at each other until we fell on the floor.  I will never forget all of our trips across Washington.  The best times were when we were traveling and made a quick few stops at the convenience stores.  Even though we weren’t quite 18, it didn’t stop us from scratching and winning money.  You taught us how to gable at a young age.  Getting up early to play at EWU, the doughnuts at 8 a.m., Spokane Laser Tag (I finally got first place), making fun of each other constantly and the good music introduced us to, LOWRIDER, oh yeah, thank you for writing that letter to the Seattle Storm that was so awesome!  I loved being at the Sonic’s game with my team and coaches.  I love being part of a team because it makes me happy to know there are people there for me whenever though times approach.  For the first nervous day of practice of my ninth grade year to the last time I step on that court as a Lady Mountaineer I will never forget the memories.  Thank you for leading us.

Always,

Valerie Larson #24

Vs. Toledo

We played Toledo again, this time in our old gym.  There was a wrestling meet going on in the new one.  During the JV game, I went to Willmarth’s class room to check my email.  I received a message from my secret Santa and one from Amber and Rebecca.  The one from Amber and Rebecca was a lesbian card, a practical joke because we think the Winlock lady coach is a lesbian.  My secret Santa told me to have a great game and to play well.  Willmarth told us that Toledo’s coach, Mike Croy graduated from Rainier back in the 80’s.  We got his senior yearbook photo and put it in the program and all over the gym walls. 

During this game we worked on breaker 3.  Three guards and a post bring up the ball against Toledo’s press.  Work the ball and use all of our time.  We tried fronting the posts to practice it since it was a non-league game.  We needed a lot of help inside.  Me, Amber and Kellie guarded Beth; Kellie was not prepared to guard her.  Beth racked up her points against us.  This time she only had 25, still under her average.  If we weren’t pressed, we were to use up all of our 30 seconds.  No help to whoever was on Beth, deny her the ball if possible, block out, don’t panic and be patient on offense.  

Rebecca got to play for a few minutes.  I got elbowed in the eye going for a ball out of bounds.  I also sat on Lisa Quick’s head going for a loose ball.  At half time we were so close to Toledo’s locker room and we could hear Croy yelling at them for not listening to him.  It was really loud.  Second half they killed us.  The score was 80-46.  I was in the Nisqually Valley Newspaper for the week of December 7, 2001.