As homecoming week approaches, I am reminded of my freshman year.  My first college homecoming experience was certainly a memorable one, but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.

Anyone’s first year as a university student is going to be an adjustment, whether you attended a prestigious college prep school or a small public school.  My initial foray into university life was no different, and the homecoming week of my freshman year was by far the most challenging of my young college career at the time.  Looking back now, however, I see that this was definitely a formative growing experience.

Let’s revisit the circumstances of that fateful week in 2007.  As a freshman, I was expected to pomp for many hours a week on a float for the homecoming parade.  There were repercussions for neglecting pomping duty, but unfortunately for me I was absolutely slammed with much more important tasks at the time, like actual academia.

My English class that semester was unique for several reasons.  I enjoy writing and have always done well with it, but this professor challenged me and demanded that I reach my full potential.  I had a very difficult paper due during homecoming week, and I remember I was writing about something that I didn’t even necessarily feel convicted about.  The professor and I had engaged in stimulating intellectual debate in class about the subject matter of this assignment, and at the end of the day I chose to write about the viewpoint that I didn’t believe in but that I knew my professor wanted to hear.

The paper was very difficult, but after some brilliant tact and dynamic reasoning, I finally reached a product I felt decent about turning in for a grade.  It was by no means a masterpiece, but I felt that I at least wouldn’t fail.

I also was dealing with several brutal exams that week that required immediate attention, so I couldn’t even devote full time to this paper until dangerously close to the due date.

Lastly, I ought to mention I was deathly ill this entire week.  Now, I’m not talking about a mild case of the sniffles.  I had severe aches all over my body, devastating coughs, and a triple-digit fever.  I could barely bring myself to get out of bed, let alone attack my assignments with the fury that was going to be required.

By the time I completed by gauntlet of exams and turned in my Machiavellian paper, I STILL had to pomp literally all night on Friday to reach my required number of hours since I had not pomped at all the entire week.  As the sun rose on Saturday, I collapsed into my bed, rethinking whether I was cut out for college at all.

I ended up getting A’s on my exams, which came as a mild shock.  But the real silver lining of the entire ordeal was the results of the paper.  I received a grade HIGHER than the highest possible attainable grade.  Upon inquiring to be sure this was not some mistake, the teacher told me that in rare instances he will reward students who really deliver a fantastic piece.

Oh yeah, I also eventually made a full recovery from my plague-like symptoms.

This week of homecoming was one of the most challenging but also the most rewarding of my college experience.  For the first time I was pushed to the edge of my limits.  I learned a great deal about what I was capable of under pressure, and now I will never look at homecoming the same.