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The College Lesson: Working for Success
By Thomas Alexander

     Gazing at the spacious campus of Kutztown University through the eyes of a six-foot freshman made the whole world seem a little bigger, but easily bearable. I felt as if I were David staring down Goliath from across the paved valley of knowledge and know how. I went to Orientation and met some interesting people, but knew little of what to expect from college. (I put my expectations on simmer and prepared for the main course of college - the parties!)
     In the beginning, parties to college were like Thanksgiving to dinner. Indeed, it was Thanksgiving at college. Thanks for finally giving the freedom to make decisions and not have to feel the wrath of the parents. Thanks for letting me out of my element to live in a new environment, and pick up the phone bill when I call home. While sometimes the first days were overwhelming, they were also refreshing. The most refreshing aspect, or distraction, was the plethora of people. I came from a high school where my graduating class totaled fewer than two hundred pupils. The total number of students, grades nine through twelve, was five or six hundred. So you could imagine the heart racing, sweaty palmed enthusiasm when I first stepped foot on a campus with well over ten thousand people.
     That enthusiasm grew when the parties commenced. Upon entering the adolescent crammed houses, I was set free into a world of stagnant, smoky air, sticky floors, and unidentifiable saturated carpets. During the seemingly quick walk home at the end of the night, the ringing in my ears was prevalent. Whether the ringing was from the music that made one’s eyes rattle or the conversations held in competition with that deafening music—the large amount of alcohol consumed put it beyond my comprehension. I stopped attending every class before lunch; hence breakfast to the average collegiate. I would wander out of my stupor in time for the only classes that interested me, which were my art classes. Coincidentally those classes fell in the evening, and that was when I was most productive. Then I would casually find my way to another party. Since no party was too big or too small, I had no trouble.
     In essence, college was one big, blaring, stuffy aired, floor stained, can never have too much wine (in this case beer), aspirin included, Thanksgiving dinner. While all the guests intended to nibble on knowledge, they were feasting on freedom. In the first year, I never got full. My tuition paid for hazy memories of the night before, phone calls from girls I did not know—but seemed to know me pretty good—and failing grades. I deserved to lose my financial aid and the opportunity to further my education. I deserved to move back home with my parents and work a job that paid in sweat and a shameful check.
     The people at college were nice, but they distracted me. The college parties were fun, but they got the best of me. I would never trade that experience for the world, because it taught me a priceless lesson. It taught me that I was looking at the aesthetics of college all wrong. The lesson was to be taught to my work ethic. I wanted to go to college to work on my knowledge, to refine it and expand it. If I really wanted that I had to do it. The professors and peers could help me, but I had to do it, no one else. I should have looked at college as a job and not an extension of high school. I have to look at it as if I were running a business. I had to be president, accountant, and laborer. As incentive, my tuition payment was an investment on my future paychecks. "Money makes the world go round" as much as I hate it; it is true. I went to college for knowledge. That is exactly what I didn't get. I didn't come back any smarter. The fool in me expected to pay tuition and receive a degree; it doesn't work like that; it has to be earned through hard work. I came back wiser. Knowledge and wisdom are two completely different things. Knowledge is taught; through the teaching of knowledge you gain understanding. Wisdom is the use of that understanding of knowledge.
     I sometimes think that I didn't go to college. I went on a journey to prepare me for college. I, David, crossed the valley of know how and stared college, the great knowledge giant Goliath, in the eyes. With my wisdom being my sling, my lesson being my rocks, and my faith balancing the risk. I feel that I am ready to fight the big fight. I signed up for classes again, this time part-time. Since I'm an accountant now, I have to manage my money. I gather necessary information, know exactly what needs to be done, like the president should. I am putting it into effect and minding efficiency, as the laborer should, while planning to never stop working. This is my career.

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