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By 7:30 a.m., a crowd already awaited the first IntroDUCKtion non-traditional student session, spilling out from the Student Recreation Center.
By virtue of being non-traditional students — students who left academia for a while or studied elsewhere before coming to the University — the individuals making up the crowd were a diverse lot, varying (sometimes greatly) in age and background. Nevertheless, they all had one thing in common: not a single person looked like they would rather be anywhere else.
Charles Einy, a transfer student from Pierce College in Los Angeles, was certainly no exception.@@http://www.piercecollege.edu/@@
“I spent one year in Pierce Community College, and when I found out that I could come to the University of Oregon … it was such an exciting time,” said Einy, who has come to study sports management. “I heard (the business program) was quite renowned, and so I trusted the university to get me started in the right way.”
Though the acclaim of the University’s business program was certainly the initial spark that drove him to leave Los Angeles after his freshman year, it wasn’t the only thing that helped make up is mind. The beauty of the campus and the prevalence of events, like the Olympic Trials, both helped quite a bit, he said. Beyond those two attractions, however, there was also the simple appeal of the people who attend the University.
“There’s great atmosphere, great camaraderie, a very comfortable place to study,” Einy said. It’s enough that he said he’s definitely here to stay. “I want to spend as much time at the University as possible.”
The opportunity to get a feel for campus for him and others like him often comes from the ubiquitous orientation tour groups that make up part of the summer campus scene. Composed of groups of parents, prospective students and student guides sporting bright green UO shirts touring the campus grounds, they’re hard to miss.
Yet, despite the prevalence of traditional freshmen, students like Einy make up a sizable and growing minority of the incoming population — and many of them aren’t simply transferring schools but beginning their education anew. One such individual is Josh Hughes, who is coming back to the academic world after a nine-year absence. For him, coming to the University was like coming home.
“I’ve wanted to go to the U of O since I was a little kid,” said Hughes, who got a two-year degree from Roseburg-based Umpqua Community College@@http://www.umpqua.edu/@@ and joined the military before making it here. When he had the opportunity to come here though, he jumped on it.
“I had an opportunity to come home and go to school with the GI Bill,” he said. “I figured I’d do it before I got stuck doing some job and didn’t have time.”
Coming back after such a long absence, he confessed that he wasn’t without a certain amount of anxiety.
“I’m a little nervous, I guess,” he said. “I’m kind of excited, too.”

For other students, the decision to come to the University was an economic one. With a grim job market accompanying the unsteady national economy, higher education as a chance to to gain a leg up on the competition is an increasingly appealing prospect. That was the case for Tony Archer, a man who – until a couple years ago – had been contemplating retirement with his wife after a career in construction.
“Then the economy tanked,” Archer said, “and we had a lot of money in property, and that went away. So, I ended up going back to school.”
The situation wasn’t all bad, though. For one thing, it allowed him to keep his wife company as she started exploring the possibility of pursuing a graduate program. It also allowed him to start working toward a degree in environmental studies, a long-time passion of his that he finds coincides nicely with his history in construction.
“I get real interested in plants and rocks and sustainability,” he said. “I’d like to really push toward making buildings more net zero rather than just energy-efficient.”
As a transfer student from Lane Community College, the University was also conveniently close. However, like many other students seeking to continue their education here, one of the biggest things drawing him to the University is the campus itself.
“There are so many activities and things to do here — close to campus, on campus and so on,” he said. “We just enjoy being here — I like everything about campus so far.”