A parent's impression of UC Merced

The University of California at Merced, which opened in 2005, is the youngest campus in the UC system. Like the adolescent it is, UC Merced is a bit awkward and its identity is still in the formative stages. But get ready: This youngster is having a BIG growth spurt.

My son and I visited UC Merced recently, walking around the campus and taking an official tour. It seemed considerably different than many of the other campuses we have recently visited.

If you're not familiar with UC Merced, it's not surprising. Not only is it quite new, to get there takes a lot of effort. First, you drive to the middle of nowhere. Then you go a little further. The campus lies outside the small city of Merced, past the farms that surround the city, on an isolated patch of rolling grasslands.

The "Beginnings" sculptures at UC Merced

Even at the age 14, in many ways UC Merced seems as if it just opened. Around the campus, the trees are small, as if recently planted. Parking for commuter students is in a temporary lot that requires a long walk to the classrooms. The parking lot we were supposed to use for our tour was a small, poorly marked gravel rectangle that we missed on our first pass.

Currently, the campus has an awkward layout, requiring all arriving students to funnel into campus along one road and across a single bridge.

But big changes are afoot. The campus is in the midst of a major expansion that is adding new classrooms, dorms, a soccer stadium, competition swimming pool and more. One of the first things you see as you approach the campus are large construction cranes.

Part of the expansion has been completed, and the rest is supposed to be done by the end of 2020. Existing buildings that are new and modern will be supplemented by buildings that are even newer.

The expansion, which will ultimately double the size of the campus, addresses key weaknesses. The current student recreation center, fairly weak by college standards, will be replaced by a new facility. The temporary student parking lot will be replaced by a more central parking.

For now, UC Merced, with just 7,500 students, has a feeling of almost a community college, though it does have dorms.  Our guide explained that new students are welcomed on their first day by a cheering tunnel of faculty and upperclassmen. The school embraces its farmland location with events like the music festival they've dubbed Cow-chella.

Still, like a teenager, the character of UC Merced is fast-evolving. In a couple years, I suspect it will have a much different feel.