SquaredPegBrad J Ward’s Thoughts on Higher Education Recruitment

When I was a junior at my university in 2004-2005, the student blogger program was launched.  (I later became a student blogger myself, and went on to oversee the initiative after that.)They were very early in the student blogging game, and took a big risk.  Sure, we’ve refined our efforts in the past 3 years and really drilled down the type of student that makes a suitable blogger, but every administrator always has the same question…………. what if? What if the student says xyz, etc.

Well, tonight while tidying up a computer, I ran across a document from my undergraduate years titled ‘The Real Deal’.  I instantly knew it was from the bloggers. And I instantly knew what it was.  It was that 1 in a million post, the What If? post, if you will.   I caution you to proceed carefully, because you never know what might come out of a senior’s mouth the night before graduation.  And why do I have this saved?  Because I knew it wouldn’t last long. (The actual save date is 5/7/2005 at 2:13am.) And sure enough, the next morning it was gone.  Did the student delete it, or did the administration? That’s the missing piece of the puzzle.  Without further ado, I present to you, completely unedited and in its entirety… the What If Post. And seriously, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

UIS – The Real Deal
A year in the life of a student at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Saturday, May 07, 2005
Final Blog
This is it. It’s 1 in the morning the day of or before depedning on your
perspetive, of graduation. I’m drunk, I’m blogging. I was feeling aprticularly
reflective and Stuebe told me to hol dit off, well I cant so here it goes, the
spell check is off as is that censor inside my head. It’s been a while since I
got a blog up, so I’ll recap.

Anything prior to this week is near meaningless. This week, finals week, and
perhaps more fittingly my final week, has been an experince that has become the
culminating experience showcasing the hardest I could possibly work with the
most fun I could possibly had. My undergraduate career has been defined by a
very delicate balance and nothing represents that like this week. I did more in
this week than all the other combined in schoolwork and partying. I have studied
and tested and written and strgguled and done a crappy job on so much stuff this
week that my brain is numb, not from all the alcohol, but from all the time I
have spent trying to close out this degree, this life. I could tell you about
the schoolwork, and all the crap I had to get done, but that is decidely boring
and not representative of my experience.

Since I last put anything up I have been accepted (primarily by luck) to a
fantastic grad school to puruse a masters degree in international affairs.
Simultaneously this was incredibly exciting and sad. I had been so ready to find
so shitty state job and slum it through for a year and try my hand again next
year. I had been prepared to spend another year in springfield being with so
many of the people I love as freinds and as fellow potential rulers of the free
world. It is quite a club. If a person is judged by the company they keep, then
I must be the best person on the face of the earth because I am so very blessed
by a diety that can be decided upon at the readers discrewtion to be surrounded
by so many beautiful and gifted people. There is so much greatness in all of my
freinds that I am constantly ashamed to be associated with them. I will never
live up to their accomplishments, I only hope to enjoy in their success and
embrace them in their defeats.

I’m already getting reflective and I haven’t even gotten to the parties, but I
don’t want to, maybe sometime over the summer I’ll get back and stick up some
pictures and tell you about massive parties, and flag stealing, and cooler
irregularities, and drunken banquets and all of that, but tonight it’s about all
the stuff that pictures can’t describe.

The last four years have been the qunitessintial experience of my life, and I
ddin;t even know it til it was almost over. That is the tragedy of experience
and learning, and living and being a part of something so special as the charter
capitol scholars class of 2005. There will never be another class liek ours.
Krohe was just in here and he confirmed it and he;s a clincal science major so
it must be true.

I just, there aren’t words, I can type for days, but I just, I can’t, I dont
know how to decribe this time, at all. It hurts me deep inside to leave in a way
that my face will never show. For all of you, for Stuebe, for Jpo, for Krohe,
for Carls, for Care, for Gabs, for Alissa, for Ryno, for Tav, for Chief, for
Jlay, for Mel, for Phil, for Mikey B, for big black Paul, for Pizza, for
everyone everywhere that had a hand in shaping this experience for me. You are
my freinds, you are my framers, you have seen me change, to grow, to become
somethnig that was impossioble just four years ago. You are always welcome for
anything any time any where.

There is no way to describe my feeling right now as I simultanoesly feel pain
and happiness. While my heart aches for more time, but I know this was our time,
and we made it ours, and it will always be ours and no one, ever, in the history
of humanity can take this time from us. We made, we did it, we lived it, we
loved it. We became a rag-tag bunch of kids who felted jipped by false promises
and scholarship checks to be a unit, so cohesive, so together, no where else in
the world would so many strong personalties meld together in a way that
trancends major, place of origin, hobby, habit, or way of life. Cap Class of
2005, we are one and if you need justification, look no further than last night.
We brought a fucking cooler into the banquet, not other class would have thought
or had the balls to pull that off, we have done that and worse. From broken
trees, to stolen flags, to funny (pot-like) smells in LRH, from selling liquor
by the shot while underage, from launching ourselves off the second floor
treadmill, from defiling the LRH elevator, from paint the apartment orange
nights, and fifths of bacardi, 21st birthdays, all of it throughout the four
years all those memories, cigar parties, heavy drinking. It was ours, it will
always be ours, and no one anywhere can every come close to the experience we
have shared.

To hell with all the bullshit of classes and adminstrators and rules and
boundaries we rock the shit out of UIS and for all the prospective students
looking to come here, do it. You can make this place great. You can make your
time hear them time of life, but don;t wait for it to happen. Make it happen.
Don’t look for the door, look for the next beer. The whole point of this deal
was an expirement in marketing, shocking I know, but I’ll tell you this, if you
come here and you want to make your college experience your own, if you don;t
want to follow in the steps of other, if you dont want to go to this bar cause
thats where those before you went, come to UIS, make this your time, your life,
your experience, I know I have and I;ve got to share it with the greatest people
on earth.

We will all achieve greatness. THat is not optimisim, that is reality. There is
too much greatness already inside of all of you to not be great in life beyond
this institution. Watch out world, we’re coming and we’re testing the rules, and
we’re going to make something of ourselves, and we’re going to make this a
better life and if you don;t like it you can suck my left nut because that;s the
kind of guy I am.

It has been my pleasure to share with you what I have done thie year (largely
the edited version) Maybe this summer I’ll put some more stuff on, maybe not,
but always remember this time was our and it will always be ours.

I love all the members of Cap Scholars Class 2005 with all that I have.

I have been trying to make Pearl Jam’s song “Throw your arms around me” the
graduation song for our class, with limited success, so I would like to close
with a quote from that song.

I will squeeze the life right out of you
I will make you laugh, gonna make you cry
And we may never forget it
As I make you call my name to blue summer sky
And we may never meet again
So shed your skin, Lets get started
And you will throw your arms around me
And you will throw your arms around me

CAP Scholars Class of 2005,
I love you all,
Laterj

posted by **** ***** @ 1:06 AM