State of Mind

One of my favorite times of the year is upon me here in Charlotte, NC. It is the changing of the season. Soon, the leaves will begin to turn from the familiar green from spring and summer to a beautiful, vibrant portrait of oranges, reds, yellows whipping in the cool arctic breezes. Correspondingly, I am also experiencing a change this fall. I will finish my undergraduate degree in accounting with a minor in management information systems.

Honestly, I never thought this day would really come to me. I have been marginal at best throughout my previous tenure as a student both in high school and my first years in college. So, when I returned to school after several failed attempts in the fall of 2003, I was reluctant. That semester I was enrolled in College Algebra. I had begun this class a few times before and always withdrawn due to being poor in mathematics and getting behind. That semester seemed destined to the same fate. I made a 50/100 on my first exam. I bumped into the professor on the way to another class and informed her I would be dropping the class because I didn't want to get an F on my transcript. Ms. Funderburk, the professor, pleaded with me to wait until the next exam. One that was going to be after the deadline to withdraw from the course. She gave her word that if I came to her with problems and made a real effort to augment my grade, she would tell the Dean and have a withdrawal made for me. I agreed and began going by her office for extra instruction. The test came, I wrote the exam and left worried and anxious at the result, which thinking back, may have been the turning point in my academic life.

judgment, 98/100 points!

With newfound confidence I dove headfirst into all my classes with even more gusto. That semester I received a 3.4 out of 4 for my GPA. I know this isn't perfect, but knowing that I had never, ever in my academic life received marks this high I was ecstatic.

This exuberance followed into the next semester when I began classes. I had dreamed for years of living in France as a student abroad. A common day Erasmus from the US. All of you know that I lived this reality, none know how it almost never happened.

After completing the semester I had a 3.4. Although my cumulative GPA was a mere 1.6. This is because I had transferred to the University a few years earlier and stopped coming to class because I was working too much. At my previous institution the withdrawal was done automatically by the professor. However, UNCC had recently adopted a self-withdrawal policy and I did not know until the end of the semester, exam week, when my professors had already left. I tried to have a withdrawal but the Dean denied the request without the teachers signatures.

Because the exchange program required a minimum GPA of 2.5, I was in a predicament. How could I get my transcript expunged after more than 3 years had passed since the incident?

I entered Dr. Jack Hogue's office, Assistant to the Dean, with trepidation. I explained my situation from previous years and the consequences. Dr. Hogue, a prudent, forthright individual who had only moments before sent a student from the room mumbling explicatives under his breathe, granted my request. I was allowed to contact the professors from the previous years and ask them to review there attendance records to see if I had truly stopped coming to class prior to October 15, 1999 as I had said. His first criteria were that I receive all five professors signatures, but after I said that only two of the professors were still with the University he allowed a 3 out-of five.

I went to Google to find the professors current whereabouts. One was in Georgia at UGA, she had authored several detective books based on her background in forensic anthropology. What consequence would it be for her to take time to help little truant me? I sent her an e-mail requesting the needed information without response. Therefore I focused my efforts to the other teachers on campus.

The first professor was an Economics professor who I had spoken with four years earlier about the same matter. At the time, she did not agree with my position trying to get a late withdrawal regardless of the Dean's position. ( I tried the last day of exams in 1999 to get the same signatures, but gave up.) She told me to return the next day after she has spoken with the Dean, she never came to meet me. However, I explained my case to her, presented the facts fairly without any bias to our incident four years previous. She looked over her records and realized that I had indeed stopped coming to class shortly after beginning the semester.

She signed.

Next, I went to a history professor, who looked at her records quickly and without hazard signed the form accordingly.

Next, I tried to have a stubborn Algebra professor look into her records. I e-mailed her on several occasions but was ignored. I looked up her office hours for an unannounced visit to confront her. Just in case, I also sent another message to the professor in Georgia including my phone number in case she would like to speak with me.

I entered the corridor leading to the office of my Algebra professor from four years prior with resolve. In the balance, I knew, was my opportunity to live in France for a year. I knocked softly on the door and her gaze quickly found my eyes. She locked in asking "Yes?" in her slight Spanish accent. I inquired about her e-mails and she curtly stopped to say she had not looked. She looked back to her workpapers, but I was not to be so easily dismissed. I explained that I would be back everyday until she had time to at least look into her attendance books, neatly stacked on her bookcase.

She broke, her Latin culture most likely influencing her because I had been firm and threatened to interrupt her peaceful office hours for weeks to come. She asked me to reach the shelf for her and pull the fall 1999 booklet, saying that it must contain a side-note about my situation in order for her to sign. I found it, nearly trembling, and handed it to her. Thumbing the pages she found my name, in the margin was a note scribbled in pencil saying that I had never returned to class after the Fall Break.

She signed. I had three signatures.

As I left the office with a euphoric wave of emotion my phone rang. I answered the strange number to a familiar name. "Hello, this is Karen Ramey Burns could I speak with Sean please?" Still elated, I said hello and congratulations on the success of her new book. Having tried to track her down I learned she has become well-known as a mystery author using her forensic background and work the the FBI. If I am not mistaken, she is also a reason for the CSI series' success her in the US. She serves as an expert consultant. Back to the matter, she thanked me and said she had found my records and, to her bewilderment, had also penned that I stopped attending class early after the semester. She sent an e-mail to the Dean and wished me luck in France.

It must have worked because I was accepted to the program and 7 months later I met some of the most wonderful people, who I think of often, and look forward to seeing in April.

If you are still with me, reading, thanks for hearing my little sentimental story. It's an anecdote on how sometimes, with a little persistence, luck, and thoughtfulness of others, things happen.

Great things.

I am happy to be the President of Beta Alpha Psi at my university. I am proud to have been selected as a winter intern with Deloitte & Touche. I am ecstatic to think that I will see my friends in a few months. Although I am worried about the sordid affairs of the world, I am optimistic because I know that a few people can and will make a difference one person at a time.

I look forward to doing my part.