{"id":91090,"date":"2018-10-04T09:42:17","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T13:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=91090"},"modified":"2022-03-24T16:14:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T20:14:40","slug":"tales-ucfs-first-day-classes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/tales-ucfs-first-day-classes\/","title":{"rendered":"Tales from UCF\u2019s Very First Day of Classes"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Oct. 7, 1968, Linda (Singer) Black \u201971 <\/strong>stepped onto the campus of a brand-new university in East Orlando for her first day of classes.<\/p>\n

A Miami native who relocated to Winter Park for her senior year of high school, Black was one of 1,948 enrolled students who showed up that historic day at Florida Technological University, which is now UCF. The Orlando Sentinel<\/em> dubbed it \u201cas the day that changed Orlando and Central Florida forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember feeling intimidated. It was a feeling of \u2018I\u2019m going to college at this new school, and I don\u2019t know where anything is.\u2019 But since everything was in one building, I knew I could figure out my way around,\u201d says Black, who is now 68 and lives in Inman, South Carolina, with a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from her porch. \u201cBut I also remember that I just felt comfortable in that everyone was so friendly and so welcoming. The students, the professors, all the assistants and staff, everybody was so thrilled to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the university celebrates its 50th anniversary of the first day of classes Sunday, Black takes us back to a time when students turned dreams into reality, parking could be challenging and innovation was embedded in the university\u2019s DNA  \u2014 maybe some things don\u2019t really change.<\/p>\n

Why did you apply to FTU\/UCF? Why be one of the first?<\/h2>\n

Being one of the first wasn\u2019t really in the forefront of my mind. I graduated from Winter Park High School and I heard there\u2019s this new university opening in the fall and it was affordable. So I thought, I guess I\u2019ll go there. I found out the office for UCF was downtown in this nondescript building. One day I went down there and I\u2019m in the elevator to get my application and there was a man riding with me \u2014 a distinguished man with a pipe that he wasn\u2019t smoking. He said, \u201cOh you\u2019re interested in going to our university?\u201d I said, \u201cYes I am,\u201d and I introduced myself. He said, \u201cI\u2019m Charles Millican, and I\u2019m the president. Come in, I\u2019ll give you an application.\u201d I applied, and it was approved within a couple days.<\/p>\n

What was the commute to school like?<\/h2>\n

They were just finishing [State Road] 436 (Semoran Boulevard). There was nothing east of it because it was just all cows and farms. There was no University Boulevard. It was a dirt road, and I drove my Rambler down it, past all the heavy machinery as the construction guys were screaming at me. But I saved about an hour in trying to get to school. Otherwise, you\u2019d have to go to Aloma Avenue to Oviedo and then down Alafaya Trail, which was two lanes at the time.<\/p>\n

Was parking a challenge?<\/h2>\n

Finding parking wasn\u2019t an issue because there were hardly any buildings. Everything around the library was parking, and it was all sand, and that was a challenge in its own right. A lot of times you\u2019d get stuck and you\u2019d have to ask someone to help you push your car out. It was probably the only time in UCF\u2019s history when finding parking wasn\u2019t an issue.<\/p>\n

What did you think of the university\u2019s culture then? How would you describe the attitudes of the students?<\/h2>\n

It was all innovators. It was people who took a risk to come there. Anything you wanted to start, you were it. If you said, \u201cOh I think I\u2019ll start an economics club.\u201d Then OK, you\u2019re it. \u201cI think I\u2019ll start a fraternity.\u201d Oh OK, well, you\u2019re it. Everything was innovative. Even to picking out the mascot and voting on Pegasus and the Knights. Whatever you wanted to do, you were free to do. It didn\u2019t matter who you were before or what family you came from.<\/p>\n

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