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Happy Graduation Class of 2007

This is the day that you put in the back of your mind, and hope that you arrive to it in one piece. It’s a day where everything comes together. The realization that you never have to sit in a classroom again. Just when you thought that your scholastic adventures were over, they were just beginning.

December, 2006

I came to Virginia Tech in the fall of 2003, and paced out my college career a little differently than the rest of my class. I took two summer sessions in 2005 which put me 18 credits ahead of everyone else. I decided to graduate in December of 2006, but I have lived in Blacksburg all semester, and I still feel very much a part of the Class of 2007. I have probably attended 25 classes as an alumni, and to tell you the truth, I enjoyed them a lot more than when I was a student.

Goofing off in class

The main lesson that I learned at Virginia Tech is that if you want something really bad, you will get it. Grades don’t matter. Tests are just a formality. Research is okay. It’s about action, and learning as you go. It’s about making your own dreams into a reality for everyone.

I can recall standing up in Dr. Jim Weaver’s Media Institutions class as a freshman answering his question, “What do you want to accomplish in 10 years?”

I want to start my own daily sports newspaper, 25 cents a copy.

In the fall of 2005, Professor Lazenby and I started Planet Blacksburg. It has yet to be printed, but it’s a step in the right direction. It’s funny thinking that the paper medium is really absent from our generation. We get everything online.

December, 2006

Lazenby says that you need to keep track of all media, even the dying ones. He also taught me that media convergence is a science, not a buzz word. I have learned that the Internet is our generation’s media preference. Even high schoolers are glued to a computer screen more than four hours a day, and much of it is spent communicating.

I could go on for hours about the musings of being a student and earning a degree, but it’s different for everyone. Some people need to get a 4.0 to satisfy their degree, and others can get by with a 2.0. I learned from ESPN that it’s all about networking. Coach Lazenby taught me that you gotta report all the facts. My friends taught me to love myself.

Rocky said that success is about how many punches you can take, not how many you can throw. If you roll with the punches, and value your time, everything will work out. You have to love what you are doing, and learn to love how to do it more creatively.

Congratulations to the real Class of 2007 though, commencing in Lane Stadium tonight at 7:30. This is the best time of year because the weather starts to warm up in Blacksburg, and three of my closest friends have a birthday:

Torey Bryant

I remember setting up my computer when I first moved into Pritchard Hall, and Torey walking in my room lookin for some good music. By the time we figured out that we were both trying out for the Marching Virginians, and lived only one floor apart, we exchanged cell phone numbers, and haven’t lost