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What's So Special About Today? Are You Starting An Online Degree?

April 29 is the first day of the Summer I term for Saint Leo Center for Online Learning students. Find out what else happened on this day in history.

Tags: Getting Started Online Learning

29 April 2013 - By Mary Beth Erskine

Remember back to the days when the first day of school meant new shoes, a fresh box of crayons, and the excitement of reconnecting with friends you hadn't seen all summer?

Elementary school or college, there's something powerful about that first day. It's a fresh start. A clean slate. An opportunity to re-invent yourself.

For all of the Saint Leo students who are enrolled through the Center for Online Learning, today is the first day of the Summer I term.

A warm welcome back to all returning students!

And if today is the day you take your first step toward pursuing an online degree – because you are beginning your first online class – then a very special welcome!

Just for the fun of it, here are some things that happened on this day in history.

Have a great Summer I term!

April 29 – This Day in History

2013 – First day of the Summer I term for Saint Leo University online students.

2011 – Kate Middleton marries Prince William in a lavish royal wedding at Westminster Abbey in London.

2004 – The National World War II Memorial opens in Washington, D.C. providing long overdue recognition for the 16 million U.S. men and women who served in the war.

1998 – Brazil announces a plan to protect an area of Amazon forest that is the size of Colorado.

1997 – The first joint U.S.-Russian space walk is made by astronaut Jerry Linenger and cosmonaut Vasily Tsibliyev from the space station Mir.

1996 – "Rent" opens at the Nederlander Theatre in New York City.

1995 – Final TV broadcast of "Empty Nest" on NBC.

1994 – Israel and the PLO sign an economic accord.

1990 – Wrecking cranes begin to tear down the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate.

1988—Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev promises more religious freedom.

1988 – Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson are married.

1986 – Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox sets a major-league baseball record by striking out 20 Seattle Mariner batters.

1985 – Billy Martin is brought back for the fourth time as manager for the New York Yankees after team owner George Steinbrenner fired Yogi Berra 16 games into the season.

1983 – Harold Washington is sworn in as Chicago's first black mayor.

1980 – Film director Alfred Hitchock dies at age 80.

1979 – Van Halen's "Dance the Night Away" single is released.

1978 – Japan's Naomi Uemura, traveling by sled dog, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.

1975 – In the closing hours of the Vietnam War, the last U.S. troops are evacuated from Saigon.

1968 – The musical "Hair" opens on Broadway at the Biltmore Theater for 1,750 performances.

1967 – Aretha Franklin's "Respect" is released.

1961 – ABC's "Wide World of Sports" premieres.

1959 – UNIVAC, the electronic computer the size of a house, picks four of six winners at Churchill Downs race track in Louisville, Kentucky. The electronic brain set a record for having the right choices in horse races, but the winners all paid 2-1 or even odds, so there were no fortunes to be made.

1957 – Actor Daniel Day–Lewis ("Lincoln") is born.

1955 – Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is born.

1952 – IBM President Thomas J. Watson informs his company's stockholders that IBM is building "the most advanced, most flexible high-speed computer in the world" – the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine.

1951 – Race car driver Dale Earnhardt is born.

1945 – The Germany Army in Italy surrenders unconditionally to the Allies; Nazi concentration camp, Dachau, is liberated

1941 – The Boston Bees agree to change the team's name to the Braves.

1930 – The first telephone connection between England and Australia goes into service.

1927 – Construction of the Spirit of St. Louis is completed. Charles Lindbergh uses the plane to become the first person to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic. The plane cost $10,580.

1913 – The all-purpose zipper is patented.

1905 – Two inches of rain falls in 10 minutes in Taylor, Texas.

1899 – The most prolific composer of the 20^th century, bandleader, and recording artist Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington is born.

1879 – In Cleveland, Ohio, electric arc lights are used for the first time.

1862 – New Orleans falls to Union forces during the Civil War.

1861 – The Maryland House of Delegates votes against seceding from the Union.

1852 – The first edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus is published.

1813 – Rubber is patented.

1784 – Premiere of Mozart's Sonata in B Flat.

1670 – Pope Clemens X is elected.

1429 – Joan of Arc leads French forces to victory over Britain at Orleans.

Who is starting their very first online class today? How do you feel about it?