What if an old man picks you up? 

Story of Walter- The 1st Philosophy Major at UC Santa Cruz. 

He picked me up around 12:24 from the Bookstore/Cowell bus stop. I needed a ride home towards Bay/King. He was the first adult to pick me up in a few months. He drove a 2004 silver honda civic, and said he preferred to drive stick. When he pulled over he was hesitant to say anything. He seemed pretty shy, and opened the door for me. Normally, when I get into a car, words are exchanged pretty quickly, at least within seconds, but for some reason no words were shed for what felt like at least 15 seconds. 


"My name is Walter, are you a student here? What are you studying?" said the man. 


"I'm Ben, Ben Oberhand. I'm considering adding a philosophy minor to environmental studies" 


He made eye contact with me for the first time. I guessed that he was at least 65. He looked at me with curiosity and then an excited face. He said "you know i was the very first philosophy major at UCSC? Well there was actually only two of us at the time, can you believe that?" 

This is Walter. He was laughing and telling me a story about how he was hanging with with Page Smith, a man who had a building in Cowell dedicated to him. The Page Smith Library to be exact. 

He reminded me of the old guru turtle from the movie Kung Fu Panda. I asked him what he was doing on campus, and the reached for a pamphlet from the dashboard and it mentioned something about philanthropy. He asked me what I was taking as a class and at the time I was teaching a class on energy efficiency and green building through the Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP). He asked me if I was a graduate student and I felt a little flattered, but only if it were true...I was a sophomore at the time and he quickly grabbed for a pen and paper, and asked if he could write down my contact information. I was kinda surprised about this. I know getting a ride with a stranger is something but just giving away my information? My intuition however told me that something about this meeting was definitely not as creepy as I thought. 


Walter pulled the car over in front of my house, and instead of getting out and thanking him for the ride, i stayed in the car and heard the story of what it was like to be the first graduating philosophy major at UCSC.


We talked for over 30 minutes. Since he had been around UCSC since the beginning, I asked him about the way UCSC has been expanded over the years and what he thinks about the design and layout of the school.  He said that planning out UCSC came with various philosophies, some he agreed with and disagreed with. For those who lived at Cowell college, you probably studied at the Page Smith Library. Walter claimed to have known Page Smith as a friend and that he lived in a trailer on the exact spot where the OPERS gym is today. "It was a cool place to stay and hang out, and eat because there was also a dining hall there too."