Very Little Pomp and No Circumstance

In 1993, I started high school with one goal–graduate and get to college.  My goal was the University of Arizona, but as I did more research, I found that the school was oriented toward math and science.  Not my strong suit–I failed Advanced Algebra in 8th grade and would go on to fail more math classes in the coming years.

I changed my focus toward San Diego State University.  They have an excellent communications program and I was sure I’d love the area.

But I didn’t get in.

I can’t remember if it was because my application was late, or because of my grades…probably the latter…so I resigned myself to attending Sacramento State.  Only now, my application WAS late, and my grades were getting worse.  The only option left was community college. 

It wasn’t the route I wanted to take, but my goal was college–one way or another.

I graduated from high school in 1997 and enrolled that summer at Sacramento City College.  The fall semester went fine except for that damn math class.  I failed it…and as it turns out, I also failed political science because I missed the final.

One semester in and I’m on academic probation.

I plugged away, getting the political science out of the way and changing my major from Communications Studies to Journalism–mostly to focus on what I loved–writing, but partly to avoid taking Argumentation as part of the major.

I finally passed Intermediate Algebra only to get two D’s in Statistics.  I could see my transfer to Sacramento State on the horizon.  I had to get serious. 

By now, it was 2000.  I attacked the class in my last semester there.  I had an excellent opportunity to pass–but I bombed the final and got a D.  Meanwhile, my application was going through the process at Sac State.  I got accepted, enrolled in classes and got my books.

Then I got a letter saying that the university had disenrolled me because of the D in Stats.

I was devastated.  This obstacle seemed like it might be too high to climb over.  I would have to tell my mom that I wasn’t transferring.  I would have to tell Marci.  I was a failure.

Almost.

I went to the counselors at Sac State that summer and begged for mercy.  I had already enrolled in classes and was retaking Statistics at 7am four days a week through Sac City.  It was enough for them to see my commitment and re-enroll me.

I got an A in Stats (which I still consider a C).  At Sac State, I committed myself for the first time EVER to academics, qualifying for the dean’s honor list in all but one semester.  I raised my cumulative GPA from 2.62 to 3.42, including a 3.66 at Sac State.

On Saturday, I graduated with honors from the university.

It took six years and a helping hand from a caring counselor, but it is…finally…over.