Ron Raines' daughter heads off to college

Ron Raines, who portrays Alan Spaulding on the daytime serial Guiding Light, did what many parents did this fall — take their child to college for the first time. The 57-year-old and his wife, Dona, drove their daughter Charlotte, 18, to her new campus over Labor Day weekend and the actor couldn’t be more proud.

There were 27,000 applications for the freshman class. And they took 5,300. Of that5,300, the grade-point average of that group is 3.8. These kids arethere to study.

Like any father, Ron has his worries about his daughter going off to college and one of his biggest was what type of roommate Charlotte would have.

Roommates are your biggest worry. It’s a crap-shooton what you’re going to get. She got two great roommates, and theybonded so quickly. They’re not big party girls; they’re studious. Theyeach bring something to the table that the other one can’t. There’salso this wonderful innocence about them, [and] I think they will besupportive of each other in that area.

What is Ron’s worst nightmare about his daughter at college? He jokes,

She finished her first semester with a 1.8. Oh, boy, don’t go there with me yet!

Source: Soap Opera Digest

Comments

I think it’s wonderful that his daughter’s academic performance is so important to him. I dont think the value of a good education is emphasized enough in our society. Having been a college student for the last 4 years and a medical student currently, I know very well the importance of education. And I totally agree with the statement about roommates too. I was blessed with 2 wonderful roommates in college, but I had friends who had terrible roommates and the conflicts were endless in that case.

- Julia A on September 18th, 2007

Thank you so much for posting this! I love Ron on GL. They have segments every day where an actor gets to share what their “light” is and one of Ron’s was spending time with his daughter before she went off to college. He seems like a really devoted dad with the right priorities!

- Andrea on September 19th, 2007

I’m sorry, but someone please explain. Does he mean their high school grade average was 3.8? Is that high for the US? Because no one with a grade average lower than 4.0 even got into university from my high school class (btw, I’m not from America). Most of us had a grade average of 4.5 and up. And to get into college we have an entrance exam witch is 80% of your points.

Also, agree with Julia A, not enough emphasis is put on higher education and these stories always make me happy. I think we sometimes forget that university education is a privilege that the majority of the worlds population doesn’t have.

- Sanja on September 19th, 2007

Sanja, I think he does mean the 3.8 is their high school average. The grade scale in the U.S. goes up to 4.0, so a 3.8 is excellent.

- Jeannie on September 19th, 2007

It was great to read this the other day. Ron is an outstanding person and is devoted to his family. I’m sure Charlotte will do her mom and dad proud!

- Tracey on September 22nd, 2007