One question comes to mind that stands out above the rest: Was it worth it?
My response: It was definitely worth it.
As a child, I never had the desire to go to college. School was nothing but a place to socialize and I did only the minimum amount of work I needed to squeak by with average grades.
A few days after graduating from high school, I joined the Marines, and spent the following four years shooting things with a machine gun, exploring the world and praying the end of my enlistment would arrive.
When I finally did get out, the original plans I had for my post-Marine Corps life fell through, and I decided to enroll at Jefferson Community and Technical College to rake in the GI Bill money while I figured out what I wanted to do.
After my first year at JCTC, I still had no idea what I wanted to study or what career path I wanted to pursue, but I knew that going to school was one of the best decisions I had made.
One day, during my second semester, one of my English teachers said some kind words regarding a paper I had written. After she mentioned journalism, I knew it was exactly what I wanted to get my degree in.
I had initially planned to go to Western Kentucky University after I graduated from JCTC, but the idea of living with a bunch of eleventeen-year-olds on or near the campus wasn’t appealing at all.
Thankfully, IU Southeast was right across the river.
The educational experience here has been better than the one at a community college. Most of the professors here know what they’re talking about and honestly want to help you — even if some of them occasionally let their personal viewpoints dilute the material.
What’s more, the old adage, “You get out of it what you put into it,” is true at our school, as well as anything else we do in life.
Our school, and definitely the journalism program, doesn’t have the resources or funding that Bloomington or other comparable schools enjoy, yet that doesn’t affect the learning process or the knowledge shared by our professors.
We do more with less, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Nothing worth having will ever be easy.
A lifelong friend and fellow IUS student once told me we really are gaining knowledge while we are in school, even if we don’t realize it.
He recently had a conversation with an old high school friend of his, who had dropped out of college after the first year.
During the course of the conversation, my friend was talking about a concept he had picked up during the four years he had been in school that made perfect sense to him. It was completely comprehensible, yet the other guy had no clue what or why he was talking about it.
That was when he realized that getting an education gives you a different outlook on the world, and it allowed him to think differently about important subjects or issues that have an impact on his life.
He called me shortly after that and said, “You know, we really are learning here, man.”
He’s right.
Almost every week, something new I’m learning ties in with something else I had learned in a previous semester.
After the two or more bits of information are molded together, I find myself overcome with a feeling of satisfaction and understanding.
I’ve often complained about taking general education classes that I thought had nothing to do with what I was studying. In my ignorance, I didn’t realize that, as an aspiring journalist, having knowledge about a multitude of subjects only benefits me and will allow me to better execute my responsibilities when writing a news story.
Even if you’re not a journalism major, general education classes can only help you. Initially, we don’t see the point, but in the end, it all makes sense.
Even if you graduate and feel like you didn’t learn a thing, you can still say you’ve completed something you started.
Our education is something that can never be taken away and it’s something that can never do us harm.
The endless doors and opportunities that will be opened cannot be purchased, and it’s our duty as successful graduates to take advantage of them.
For me, IU Southeast has been the second chapter of my life since graduating from high school.
Both experiences were different and, as the passage of time provides nostalgic snapshots of the previous years, I know they were not wasted.
—30—
By TRAVIS STURGILL
Editor
trsturgi@ius.edu
