I remember it as if it were yesterday. In fact, it has been a lot of yesterdays – and I mean a lot – since I first walked on the campus at the University of Georgia. My parents dropped me off at my dorm and headed back to East Point some 70 miles away. It could have 7 thousand miles, given the loneliness and isolation I felt.
My initial thought was that I had made a gigantic mistake. I was only an average high school student. My high school buddies had all gone to work and were cruising around town in new cars. Here I was with a duffle bag full of clothes, walking into an empty dorm room wondering why I thought college was a good idea.
The truth is my older brother had graduated from UGA and whatever he did I was determined to do, as well. Looking back, I am glad he chose to get a college education and not to seek a career as a coal miner. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having this conversation and I would likely be sneezing anthracite dust.
I had some vague idea of wanting to get into broadcasting for reasons that escape me today. To find out more about the business, I strolled over to the Henry W. Grady School of Journalism which was collocated with the College of Business. When I walked into the building, it was like an epiphany. All of a sudden, I knew this was where I was meant to be. And the rest, as they say, is history.
I got my degree in broadcast journalism. I spent 5 years in radio, got hired as a public relations manager by Southern Bell in Atlanta and several decades later retired as an officer of BellSouth Corporation.
And the university where I thought I had made a gigantic mistake those many years ago? It has been and continues to be a mutual love affair. I have been honored as its Outstanding Graduate and have had the distinct privilege of being president of the National Alumni Association. I also endow a professorship at the Grady College as well a number of student fellowships.
Why this trip down memory lane? This month thousands of young people will be entering one of the 26 public institutions of higher learning in our state. Some may be your children, grandchildren great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews or friends. And some may be just as scared as I was.
So much has changed since I arrived at UGA with my duffel bag and left with a diploma. Let’s start with today’s students. They are brighter than sunshine. They have to be. Getting in today’s colleges and universities is a challenge. For example, only 6,200 first-year students were admitted to the University of Georgia this year out of some 48,000 applications. The Class of 2029 has an average SAT score of 1356 and an average high school GPA of 4.17. I would never had made it.
As I discovered when my parents drove away that afternoon, I was on my own. So are today’s college newbies. No parents to wake them up. No one to see they get enough sleep. No checking of homework. No one looking over their shoulder.
With freedom comes responsibility. I found out quickly that when I tossed my shirt on the floor, Momma wasn’t there to pick it up, wash and iron it and hang it up in the closet. It just laid there, requiring some action on my part. Welcome to college.
College is where young people will develop their work habits; work habits they will carry with them when they leave school and move out into the real world. If they don’t apply themselves in class, that’s likely not to change when they get into the work environment.
But it’s not all about academics. It is also about expanding your knowledge outside the classroom. Becoming a well-rounded person. Meeting new people. Joining organizations. Getting involved in the community. When I was interviewing college graduates looking to come to work in my company, I was as interested in their outside activities as I was in their grades.
In closing, if you have young people heading off to college, tell them to work hard but remind them to cherish every minute of the experience. There will never be another four years to match it. Take it from a guy who thought he was making a gigantic mistake when he walked on campus those many yesterdays ago.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139
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