Jaylin Goes to College

Freshman Year

Last week, we moved Jaylin in for his first year at Sterling College in Kansas. And as you can see, he is happy to be there.

As of this writing, classes have not started yet. And not all of the freshmen have arrived yet, either. He and all of the other fall athletes had to be there a week early to start practices and team meetings and such. But it also gives him a chance to get settled in and figure things out before the real orientation and classes start, so that’s a good thing.

When we have told people that Jaylin would be going to college in Kansas, most everyone comments on how cold it gets in the winter. Most people do not know that it gets pretty hot in the summer, too. On the day that we moved him in, the high temperature was 98 degrees. A couple of days later, it hit 100 for a few days in a row.

Fortunately, we were able to combat the heat. When we got there just after 8:00 for check-in, it was almost cold as the temperature was in the upper 60s. We were able to get all his stuff moved into the dorm in the morning before it really heated up. By the time the afternoon heat had arrived, we were mostly inside. And it is true that the humidity there in Kansas is much lower than our humidity back home in West Tennessee, so we were able to handle the heat. I am sure it still made for some hot football practices, however.

Here’s hoping for a good first year for Jaylin, and for everyone else, too!

Parent Photos

Of course, we had to take some parent photos, too. Here are Laura and Jaylin:

And here is Jaylin with me:

We chose to take our photo out in front of the auditorium building. While it might have been meaningful to take our photos in front of his dorm or at the football field, Laura chose this location because of the “Sterling” name in the landscaping. It actually also says “College” off to the other side, but that was too much to get in a photo. Or was it…?

Photo Fun

After we had taken our “serious” photos, we had a little fun.

I took a panoramic photo to get both sides of the “Sterling College” wording. And there are also two Jaylins!

Actually, there is only one Jaylin, of course. When I was taking the panoramic photo, Jaylin stood at my left. Once I had turned my phone away from him, he ran around behind me and stood at my right, so that he was standing there when the phone came around to that side. Pretty cool! Maybe we should have attempted a second try where he was not standing in front of the words, but this is fine. Just something a little fun to do with technology.

Bible Verse

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. - 2 Timothy 2:15

About the Photos

As long as I am giving out photo secrets, I should probably go ahead and tell you that I “doctored” the main photos a bit, too. The sun was coming from behind the buildings, which really washed out the sky. So I used the Sky Replacement tool in Luminar AI to add in a different sky. You probably would not have thought anything about it if I had not mentioned it. The panoramic photo above shows what the “real” sky looked like. So now you know the truth.

Photo: Each photo is a single Raw exposure, processed in Luminar AI. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens
Date: August 6, 2021
Location: Sterling, Kansas