Columnist fires his last shot ÷ maybe

By Travis Henery
The Metropolitan

The Last Lowdown.

Assuming I pass Basic Programming, Intro to Computers and tae kwon do, this will be the last Lowdown column for The Metropolitan.

I give it a 50-50 chance.

Being an optimist (surprise! surprise!), I will write this last column as a student who is about to graduate.

Graduating means many things to a student who has been in college for the last six years.

First and foremost, it means that now I have to really do something to validate my existence.

No more tired excuses of, ćOh, I am still in school,ä when someone asks what Iām doing with my life.

After graduation, I canāt pretend that the job I have been stuck in for those six years is something just to get me by while I am learning my trade.

No, graduation means having to garner some motivation to tackle the outside world.

And that sucks.

As I do attempt to venture into that outside world, I feel it necessary to pass down some advice that may be useful to future graduates.

The No. 1 piece of advice I have for students is to actually learn whatever course you are taking.

It may seem easy at the beginning to pass a course without really learning the material being taught. But trust me, at the end of the semester you will be playing catch-up and just trying to muster up a D (i.e. Basic Programming).

Another good piece of advice for future grads is get to know your classmates.
Besides the people I knew from high school who ended up dropping out of college anyway, it was at least three years until I really got to know anybody down here at Auraria.

Some of the brightest and friendliest people I have met were students I just got aquainted with this year.

Donāt be shy! They may have the right answers to help you get that C.

For students who are planning to get into student politics, student publications, or anything school related, the best thing to remember is donāt take all that political correctness crap.

The people entrenched into student politics think they are above the normal student.

Not so. They are just perpetuating the myth of the people in power knowing more than the people who really do know more.

Students will never really have a say on this campus until student leaders quit worrying if the editor of The Metropolitan is hurting their feelings and get on with their jobs at hand.

If you jump into the public arena, expect to get made fun of, expect criticism and expect ridicule.

Like it or not, it is part of the job.
In a nutshell, you paid your tuition to attend this college, so take advantage of it.

Get involved, learn something, make a difference.

I wish I had more.