Donald Kupferschmidt 1975 - 1978
My Memories of Milton College

Thirty-two years after I graduated from Milton College my wife and I were cleaning out our attic. We came across a box with no markings on it.  After opening this box, I found all of my papers that I had accumulated from my years at the college.  You can imagine the memories that came back to me from that time period.  I write these memories not from the late 1970's when I graduated, but from now, in calendar 2010, close to my sixth decade in life.

In September of 1975 I started taking classes towards a Business Administration Degree at Milton.  Being newly married, I wasn't required to stay in the dorms. I found a room just one block off campus on Rogers Street.  

I commuted from my home in Milwaukee to the college on a weekly basis, driving up on Monday mornings and leaving on Friday afternoons.  The first few months at the college were difficult for me.  Here I was, 25 years of age, going to college full time in another city, and living away from my wife for the entire week.

At the college, I noticed a number of peculiarities.  The first was why the college president, Joe Kipper drove just two blocks from his home to the administration building.  One would think that on nice days a person would want to walk.  The second thing that I noticed was Professor Leland Skagg's uncanny way of calculating the sales tax in his head while I was purchasing books at the bookstore.  He was also known for making the numeral '8' backwards in his algebra class.  I didn't realize that he was considered a genius in mathematics until my later years at Milton.

To keep busy during the week I joined the college radio station staff.  It was a lot of fun working with the other staff members and the time passed quickly.  Before I knew it, the semester had ended and Christmas 1975 was here.  Second semester also went by very quickly.  I now had one full year in at the college.

The Fall of 1976 brought on a new set of challenges for me.  I did very well academically my first year, but for the most part those classes were all introductory and not that difficult.  Now, I was in my junior year. I was taking upper level courses and I worried that I wouldn't do as well.  I had signed up to take some of the heavy hitters - Accounting and Economics.  I clearly remember shuddering when I walked into those classes each day.  I also had a new project - driving people home on Friday afternoons.  It seems that word got out that I was commuting back and forth to Milwaukee, and many approached me asking if I would be willing to take them home for the weekend.  So every Friday afternoon around 3:00 PM, I would load up the car at the Student Center to make the hour and 10 minute trip back home.

As I had a commercial radio license, I took over all of the engineering work at the two college radio stations, which were WVMC/AM and WMDF/FM.  Incidentally, the call letters of the two stations did have a meaning to them.  WVMC was the Voice of Milton College and WMDF was Milton Delivers the Finest.  With almost no budget to replace worn out equipment, I had to repair everything.  Not only did that take time away from my studies, it also made me the on-call person whenever something malfunctioned.  Every Thursday afternoon Bruce Slater, Jim Tucker, and I had a meeting at the radio station.  The meeting served a dual purpose; one was to listen to the outtakes from Record Report (a syndicated show that the station was airing), and to discuss current issues about the radio station.  I mentioned that we needed some new equipment, but there was no money in the budget.  We all agreed that some type of fundraiser was needed.  I thought long and hard about what we needed to do in order to raise money.  I decided on having a St. Patty's Day beer dance.

I started to prioritize what had to be done.  It was imperative that both the administration of the college and the radio station staff get on board with this project.  I needed to find a band and advertise the dance to the outside world.  Last, but not least, we had to have green beer.  Everything came together more than I expected.  The radio station staff gave me their full support, as well as the college administration.  Bruce Mills and I traveled to Janesville a couple of times and found a rock band.  Jerry Pickens promised that the green beer would be flowing.

I started having panic attacks the morning of the dance.  I worried about how many people would show up and if there was going to be enough money from the ticket sales to pay for the band and the beer.  As the day went on I worried even more.  Bruce Mills told me to stop worrying, everything would be all right.  I had an early supper and went back to my room to study.  The dance was scheduled from 8 PM until midnight.  At 7 PM, I went over to the student center.  The band was starting to set up their equipment.  At 7:45 PM, I looked out the front door and couldn't believe what I saw.  There was a line of people waiting to get in.  We had counted over 200 people entering the dance.  There was more than enough money to pay for the band, the beer, and have money left over for some new equipment for the station.

Everything seemed to come together.  All we had to do was to wait until midnight, shut the dance down, clean the room, and go home.  Around 8:45 PM, the band took a break and everyone gathered around the tap to get his or her green beer.  The dance finished up, we cleaned up and went home.  I remember getting to bed around 4:30 AM and slept in until noon.  The rest of the semester went by very quickly, and before I knew it I had finished my junior year.

Entering my senior year, my outlook changed and I felt a sense of relief.  I was two semesters away from graduating.  I had purposely taken an overload of classes in both my sophomore and junior years to lighten the load in my senior year.  This provided me with more time to work at the radio station and study.  No more late night study hours for me.  Time went by very quickly, and before I realized it, Christmas had come.

Second semester started out slow, and then picked up.  I was in the last of my 400 level business courses and looking forward to graduation.  One of my last classes, the EBA seminar, was a lot of fun.  We all went over to Whitewater and played a simulated investment game on their computers.  As things worked out, the team that I was on won the game.  Before I realized it, the end of April had come.  There were only two weeks of classes left, finals were starting, and graduation was right around the corner.  I remember eating at the Campus Center with my fellow seniors, and everyone was looking forward to the end of the semester.

I had one final left that was scheduled for the middle of the last week, and then classes would be officially over for me.  I wasn't looking forward to taking my last final because it was Statistics.  Math and I never did like each other.  I had always struggled in grade and high school math classes.  During the semester I really had to put a lot of time into that class in order to keep up. The test started at 10:00 AM and it was brutal.  That test covered everything taught from day one to the end of the semester.  Interesting enough, everyone finished right around 2:00 PM.  As we were leaving the room, someone suggested that we go down to the Cove to celebrate.  Everyone put $5.00 into the kitty and the beer started to flow.  Sitting there drinking, we lost track of time.  When I did look at the clock, I realized that it was 5:45 PM, and the cafeteria was going to close in 15 minutes.  I ran up High Street and entered the Campus Center.  By then, Mother Nature was calling and I needed to go.  So I ran downstairs to the bathroom, finished my business and got into the cafeteria.  I didn't realize it, but people were looking at me funny.  I was in a hurry as they were starting to put the food away, so I ignored the stares.  I got my plate of food and walked over to where the other seniors were sitting.  As I was putting my food down on the table, one of the seniors started to laugh and then said, "HEY, CHECK YOUR ZIPPER!  YOUR BARN DOOR IS OPEN.  ALL OF THE COWS ARE COMING OUT, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5."  I looked down and sure enough, it was open.  I was so embarrassed that I walked out of the cafeteria and went home.

The next morning I went to breakfast. As I was getting my food there were people snickering at me.  I sat down at the end of the table where no one else was sitting and ate my food.  As I was putting my dishes away, a person who was there the night before came up to me and said, "We were pretty rough on you last night.  To make it up to you, there's a party tonight at Crandall Hall, and we would like you to come."  Seeing how it was my last night at Milton and I was leaving the college for good the next day, I said, "OK, I’ll be there."  I went to the party and we all had a good time.  It was getting late, so I told everyone goodbye and started to leave.  The person who told me to check my zipper in the cafeteria handed me a card and said, "Read it."  I opened it up and it was a graduation card with the inscription on the other page, "Check your zipper!  Peek a boo!"  (I've posted this card in the pictures area of my photo album.  To protect the author’s name, I won’t reveal who signed the card.)

May 1978.  Finally, it was over. No more classes, homework, tests, or term papers to do.

Packing up and leaving Milton College that Friday morning was bittersweet.  Three years of my life in college had just came to an end, and it was time to head home, get a real job, and start making a living.  I didn't tell anyone that I was leaving Milton for good.  I finally finished packing the car, and left.  As I turned onto High Street and drove past the college slowly for the last time, I relished in all of the memories of the six semesters that I was there.

As I now reflect on those years that I spent at Milton, I ask myself, was it worth it going to the college?  You bet it was.  Not only did it teach me a career, it also made me grow up and interact with people.  I put a lot of energy into those three years, leaving home early on Monday mornings, driving 70 miles to Milton, and then spending all week at the college.  I’d return home late Friday afternoons, and then work Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday.  And that process went on for three years.

I can tell you this:  Milton College was a lot of work, a lot of fun, and one heck of a ride.