I really let my student involvement and activity get in the way of my academics
and I can't undo that but at the time I was so involved and really enjoyed being in the mix
that I let school slide and I let my load go down and I didn't finish on time.
So '86 to '90 was my four-year stint here as a full time undergraduate,
so I should have graduated with my class in 1990,
but by the time that spring semester rolled around
I was the equivalent of about a semester's worth of hours shy of a degree.
So I had taken a job at that time and thought well, I'll come back
and do some night classes and get this knocked out.
Easier said than done.
First of all the job required some travel, that made it hard, since most of the evening classes are one night a week
and if you miss one you've missed a big chunk of the course.
So I really struggled to come back over a period of several years and get the course here and the course there to finish up.
So I regret not graduating with my class,
I regret that it took me longer to finish than I wish it had,
and I know full well it was because I was so engaged in what was going on.
This whole Valvano and chancellor thing was layered on top of what was already an extremely involved student life,
so I just didn't manage it as well as I should have.
I often talk to student leaders along the way, both in the fraternity, which I still advise,
and even the current-. The newly elected student body president is a college of humanities student
so I've had a chance to get to know him and meet him,
and I've had that conversation with him:
As smart as you are, as great as your grades may be, and as on top of the world as you might be,
it is very easy to suddenly find yourself behind, and don't let that happen
because it's hard to make that up quickly and you end up being unable to go back and undo it later.