So it’s my last column of the semester. Don’t get all teary-eyed yet. I’ll still be around in the summer and the fall columnizing about whatever I decide to columnize about an hour before Opinion Editor Scott Sternberg asks me if my column is done yet.
Last columns always have the stigma of being the “good-bye” column. But, because I ain’t goin’ nowhere, I decided to write this last bit of copy as an apology.
That’s right, an apology. Nope, not to apologize for my last column … although I’m still waiting for the promised Letters to the Editor about that one.
No, this is an apology to my teachers.
You see, I consider myself to be a pretty excellent student, though my GPA considers me to be a pretty average student. That’s fine, though. I can handle it.
I have accepted that I won’t be graduating with honors and can’t relish in typing out a big “4,” a big period and a big “0” on my resume.
But I believe I can rise above it. I am a diamond in the rough, although my degree audit — in all of its generic, monotonous musings — attempts to portray me in a harsher light.
I have recognized my own potential as the next Albert Einstein — a neglected, underachieving young person who amounted to greatness later in life.
On a side note, my English professor would call these last few sentences amplification — trying to exaggerate the telling just to alert the reader and further dramatize the point. See, I AM learning something.
Anyway, back to that whole apologizing thing.
I haven’t been the best student because I’ve been trying to be the best journalist. I’ve spent my entire college career in the damp, sometimes hospital-like basement of Hodges Hall, grinding away the day and the night trying to make The Reveille the best paper it can be.
I’ve neglected my schoolwork for my job, I confess (my Act of Contrition will come later).
You see, I have aspirations to be an awesome journalist once I get onto the professional racetrack that is the media. And I see my work here as a boost to help me get prepared. The Reveille has offered me more of a training environment than I could ever get in class.
Also, I seem to have become a workaholic, which kind of makes me cringe. But, whatever.
Don’t get me wrong. I recognize what an outstanding job my instructors and professors have done and I have learned much more than I expected to in each class.
But I still feel confident that regardless of my grades, I can go out into the real world and turn other eyes as a journalist.
In fact, this makes a nice segue into my next point.
One of my professors brought in a guest lecturer last week to talk about real world journalism. He’s also the same guy who wrote the textbook for the class.
He talked about his work at the L.A. Times and mentioned in passing that he wasn’t the best student in college because he spent most of his time at the student paper.
Sweet Lord! There is hope for me! It was a moment of pure joy.
After all, the guy wrote the friggin’ book we study. Isn’t that ironic? And in fact, I’d even go as far to say he probably wouldn’t have read his own book in college if it was assigned to him.
So, to my teachers, I apologize. You can type in that “average” grade on Semester Book knowing I’ll still be successful in my career … or worried I’m one of “those” entering the job pool. Whichever.
And, in closing, I must put in a good word for my fellow Reveille staffers who seem to juggle class and work just as I do.
In fact, after reading a rough draft of this column, many of them responded saying, “AMEN!”
I told you there would be an Act of Contrition at the end of this column.