A RAT’s Retrospective

What follows is some musings on fall 08. It’s mostly for me, just to get my thoughts on paper. But if you wish, hit the jump.

I can’t believe I’m halfway through my first year of college already. I look back at the boy I was just four months ago and I am astounded at the change.

Just a little while ago I thought I was going to be a student of the sciences. Just a little while ago I thought myself as academically invinsible. I thought myself to easily be a member of the elite. Heh. How naive.

I trivialized classes, work, and friendships. Battered by thirteen years of mind numbing coasting, I thought Tech would be more of the same. Instead I discovered my deadly sin of choice to be pride.

So I came out of my first semester with a bloody nose. I’m not calling it a bad semester, though. I made new friends, continued to excel in my chosen arena of mock trial, and focused myself.

I realized that college really is the beginning of the rest of your life. In college you don’t prepare for some invisible next step; you prepare yourself for becoming an adult that will change the world.

So suffice to say, I’ve learned more than calculus this semester. And next semester is the time to put that knowledge into practice.

I will throw myself into my new major and find an internship for the summe r that will provide meaningful experience. I will continue to do well in mock trial and help the team get far in the amta competition. I will strengthen my friendships. Most of all I will endeavor to shape myself into a man who will change the world for the better, not motivated by profit or a lust for power, but by a genuine desire to help the people of the world live better lives.

I won’t fool myself by thinking I’ve “found myself.” I’ll probably change in a big way at least once more before I get out. But hey, that’s college.

~ by Mike on December 26, 2008.