2008 Woodie Awards
Work
Kelsea Wilks
Issue date: 1/26/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
How many credits are you taking? 26. How many sports do you play? Two. Are you involved in any campus organizations? Yes, I hold Editorial Board positions on three. What is your major? Electrical Engineering. What is your minor? Biochemical Engineering.
Talk to a Stevens student and these are the answers you will receive. At normal colleges, freshmen take 14 credits and if someone is motivated they go for a minor in some less than demanding humanity focus.
I was at the men's basketball game tonight against Maritime. They won and they are having a fantastic season. My friend leans over during the course of the game and says, "Sports are funny." Now I play basketball as well and I am thinking, funny? There is nothing funny about the grueling hours I put in at the gym everyday. But being the considerate person that I am, I let her finish her train of thought. "People work so hard to be so good. And it's such a funny thing to work for."
Her statement raises an interesting point. Why are all of us here at Stevens working so hard? Why do students feel their GPA is inadequate as a 3.1? Why do people have minors like biochemical engineering? Why do students feel the need to begin climbing the corporate ladder through co-op at age 18? Why do we push ourselves to the absolute limit?
I'm sure each person has their own individual answer. Maybe some students are still searching. The motivation may be money, reputation or habit. In my opinion, I simply have the need to work hard. I was cursed with a burning drive to overachieve. The exhaustion that you feel after pushing yourself to the absolute limit is somehow comforting.
The point of this editorial is to be a second semester morale booster. Everyone is here because they were blessed with an abnormal amount of brain power. When you are about to reach that limit, when you feel like giving up - don't. Break through the breaking point and then marvel at what you have accomplished thus far. All of our hard work has paid off, even though that's not why we did it to begin with.
If the surplus of overachievers here at Stevens starts to make you feel inadequate, just keep this in the back of your mind: even if you are not the valedictorian of your class here at Stevens, you're doing a hell of a lot better than you're friends at home who are in their fourth year at the local junior college hoping to pursue a management position at the ice cream store.
Talk to a Stevens student and these are the answers you will receive. At normal colleges, freshmen take 14 credits and if someone is motivated they go for a minor in some less than demanding humanity focus.
I was at the men's basketball game tonight against Maritime. They won and they are having a fantastic season. My friend leans over during the course of the game and says, "Sports are funny." Now I play basketball as well and I am thinking, funny? There is nothing funny about the grueling hours I put in at the gym everyday. But being the considerate person that I am, I let her finish her train of thought. "People work so hard to be so good. And it's such a funny thing to work for."
Her statement raises an interesting point. Why are all of us here at Stevens working so hard? Why do students feel their GPA is inadequate as a 3.1? Why do people have minors like biochemical engineering? Why do students feel the need to begin climbing the corporate ladder through co-op at age 18? Why do we push ourselves to the absolute limit?
I'm sure each person has their own individual answer. Maybe some students are still searching. The motivation may be money, reputation or habit. In my opinion, I simply have the need to work hard. I was cursed with a burning drive to overachieve. The exhaustion that you feel after pushing yourself to the absolute limit is somehow comforting.
The point of this editorial is to be a second semester morale booster. Everyone is here because they were blessed with an abnormal amount of brain power. When you are about to reach that limit, when you feel like giving up - don't. Break through the breaking point and then marvel at what you have accomplished thus far. All of our hard work has paid off, even though that's not why we did it to begin with.
If the surplus of overachievers here at Stevens starts to make you feel inadequate, just keep this in the back of your mind: even if you are not the valedictorian of your class here at Stevens, you're doing a hell of a lot better than you're friends at home who are in their fourth year at the local junior college hoping to pursue a management position at the ice cream store.
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