Members of the Boehne family, from Springfield, Missouri, are Tigers through and through. Father Greg, BS Ed ’91, and mother Tara, BHS ’91, brought son Will, center, to campus for Summer Welcome in June. Photo by Rob Hill.
In June, Greg and Tara Kott Boehne attended Summer Welcome. It was their second time going through this orientation and rite of passage for incoming freshmen, but this time, they attended as the parents of their oldest son, Will. They found that much had remained the same since their experience in the summer of 1987.
Greg Boehne, a Phi Delta Theta, and Tara Kott, an Alpha Chi Omega, on a date at a hayride social event in 1988. They were in the same Summer Welcome group 28 years ago and married in 1992. Photo courtesy of Greg Boehne.
“There was a lot of, ‘Oh, I’ve been through this! I’ve done this!’ ” Greg says.
The main difference, Greg says, is that presenters offered more information than when he was a student. “It seems like the university has so many more services to offer students today than they did 28 years ago.”
Those services impressed Will, too. “I liked all the places you can get help with classes. You can go at any time of the day.”
Greg and Tara were in the same Summer Welcome group, and Will says his group was the best part of orientation. “Meeting new people and becoming really close with them in just one day, that was cool,” Will says. “Even if you didn’t know anyone coming in, now you know at least 15 or 20.”
During their student days, Greg was a Phi Delta Theta, and Tara was an Alpha Chi Omega. Today, the Springfield, Missouri, couple are MU graduates and life members of the Mizzou Alumni Association.
Now, with his class schedule sorted and familiar faces on campus, Will feels ready to begin his own Mizzou experience. He plans to study banking and finance in the Trulaske College of Business.
Although Will is eager to live independently, Mizzou remains a family affair. His parents are pleased at the prospect of visiting Mizzou and Columbia. “We’re really looking forward to spending football Saturdays with him and getting to know some of his new friends at the university,” Greg says. “We’re used to going to Columbia together. Now it’s going to be, ‘Well, we’re going up, and we’re going to see Will.’ ”
