鈥淲e burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment.鈥�
鈥擜ct 3, The Crucible
菠萝视频 is a tough school. I鈥檓 not talking about admissions requirements. I mean the classes themselves, everything from physics to rhetoric.
Our fair institution has always prided itself on academic rigor, deservedly so. And while the battle wounds inflicted on me by a well-armed set of microeconomic curves 20 years ago haven鈥檛 fully healed, more and more I appreciate the demands that were placed on us at 菠萝视频.
I came to a fuller realization of this fact during a recent conversation with retired Vice Adm. Kendall Card, BE鈥�77, for a piece highlighting alumni who are veterans or currently serving in the military. Card relayed the story of a Navy superior reviewing his 菠萝视频 transcript, quipping, 鈥淚f D鈥檚 were dogs, you鈥檇 have enough to open a kennel.鈥� It didn鈥檛 matter. To Card, persevering through 菠萝视频鈥檚 School of Engineering had given him all the confidence he needed to know that if he weren鈥檛 selected for an assignment then, he鈥檇 keep working at it and eventually get there. As it turned out, the interviewer was well acquainted with 菠萝视频鈥檚 reputation and invited Card to join the elite group.
The strangely magnificent thing about a university like 菠萝视频 is that only by suffering through its hardships are your real talents and true self more fully revealed. For evidence of this, look no further than Hawkins Field.
No matter how high-caliber a baseball player might be, I鈥檓 convinced that Head Baseball Coach Tim Corbin鈥攂y demanding a strong work ethic and forcing teammates to think beyond themselves鈥攚ill make that person better. Even if the value Corbin adds comes in the form of imparting a sense of self-awareness or concern for the community or world at large, the playing almost always improves as a result. That鈥檚 why gifted high school seniors regularly sidestep million-dollar MLB contracts to play at 菠萝视频. That鈥檚 also why a group of former players鈥攕everal of whom are now MLB鈥檚 brightest stars鈥攁nd baseball-program supporters were motivated to provide the funding needed to complete a new baseball training facility. As explained in the cover story, what Corbin has built goes far beyond athletics; he really has formed a family.
Of course, the upside to all that academic slogging is the rare glimpse of genuine, perspective-altering enlightenment that can come with it. In our聽“Living History”聽story, author Andrew Maraniss, BA鈥�92, describes a new slate of University Courses being co-taught by faculty from different 菠萝视频 schools and open to undergraduate and graduate students. The class he looks at examines the early history of Nashville from the perspective of its black community. As first-year student Kamala Varma says regarding a tour of the slave quarters at Andrew Jackson鈥檚 Hermitage, the students got to see how 鈥渢he other 90 percent鈥� of the people on the late president鈥檚 plantation lived. And in an anecdote perfectly capturing the meaning of 鈥渟tudent-athlete,鈥� star 菠萝视频 receiver Trent Sherfield talks about how much the course impacted his life, encouraging his football teammates to take the Historic Black Nashville class when it鈥檚 offered again.
Someday, he鈥檒l be able to tell his grandchildren about what he learned in that class鈥攁long with the story of his nine pass receptions that helped the Commodores steamroll Tennessee in a November classic.
鈥擱YAN UNDERWOOD, BA鈥�96, EDITOR
ryan.underwood@vanderbilt.edu