| Oh boy, my S would love to meet someone who is a surf instructor! It was amazing watching the surfers at Newport Beach.
Tell Kevin that there is a facebook group for the new film school kids. I *think* it's called Dodge College 2012. There is also one for Chapman 2012. Chinaski, are you on those yet?
Oh, by the way, the Fairfield Inn was very nice. It was $89/night and about 15 min. from Chapman. We'll probably stay there again next time.
The one disappointment from the weekend was that S didn't really meet any of the other film kids. They were all over at Marion Knott studios for one of the sessions, but they were listening to presentations and parents were there, so it wasn't like they had a chance to just sit down and talk. Oh, well, the Facebook group will help with that a bit and there will be time enough for getting to know one another when they get there.
Academic advisor meeting....not so good. Basically, he couldn't tell me anything that wasn't available on the website. I was especially hoping to find out how S's dual-credit courses would be counted in the different GE requirements. Apparently, there is an articulation dept. that handles that, and until they evaluate his transcript (after school ends), he won't know.
Let's see, Chinaski, what else can I tell you about the Preview Day? During the opening session we saw President Doti for the first time. Just from stuff I'd read online, it seemed that he was a "rock star" college president in that everyone there seems to like and admire him. After hearing him, I understood why. First of all he comes striding onto the stage in a sports coat and no tie (very un-college presidentish). The man who introduced him said that Pres. Doti was leaving immediately after his talk to fly to Boston to run in the Boston marathon. He's a mountain climber, too, as is one of the deans (an Italian man...can't remember his name) who gave the closing address. Pres. Doti did a fun presentation about what's so great about Chapman.
I was interested to hear more about the Freshman Foundation Classes. They have a faculty member who has won a Nobel Prize in economics and another who won a Wolf Prize in physics (also quite prestigious). Both of those guys, among others, will be teaching FFC classes. That's really a great opportunity!
Next it was over to Dodge College. They had a parents session that was basically about future work prospects for film school graduates followed by Q&A with some parents asking very dumb questions. Like this one: "My kid is going in as undecided. Now, what does she need to do to get into Dodge college?"
They also had sessions on screenwriting and demonstrated the Foley stage and the motion capture studio (where they put an actor in a suit covered with sensors and when he moves those movements are transferred to an animated character). S enjoyed all of that.
We were late leaving Dodge (and it's a bit of a walk), so we missed the next sessions back on campus. There were ones on student associations, residence hall living, etc.
During the closing address, the speaker (the Italian mountain climber guy) encouraged the students not to just take the easy classes but to challenge themselves since they have this wonderful opportunity before them.
They fed us a nice pasta lunch out on the piazza and then we toured the residence halls. We got to see rooms in each dorm, so that was nice.
The worst part for S was having to leave and not come back until August! | 
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