The first one: Welcome to reality

*This is a speech I give to the student starting their first class in the Mass Communication major: Comm 2001

For most of you this should be the first class you’re taking within your major, so allow me to say Welcome to Mass Communication, and congratulations. Congratulations on having made it this far; making it not only into college, but surviving your first few semesters. You are about to enter one of the most exciting, most dynamic, and most demanding fields that exist.

Working in a mass media related field means you need to constantly be ahead of your game, not only in terms of skills and knowledge; you also need to want to be the best if you want to succeed. Our program here reflects that culture. We will make sure you have the skills and knowledge you need, but we also expect our students to constantly improve and give their very best. Only then will you be able to pass and be successful.

Let’s cut to the chase, our classes are tough. If you picked mass communication hoping to fly through college, you need to sit down and re-think your plans. We expect our students to perform well in many different fields: writing papers, carrying out research, handling technical equipment, writing scripts, newspaper articles, and directing a television show or film. You are not only expected to be able to do all this with all your heart, you are also expected to be able to do all this at the same time. All of our classes have various theoretical and practical assignments, and yes, sometimes you will have to carry out several at the same time. We don’t get together and fine tune our schedules so you all will have as little stress as possible. Each class is an independent unit that is set up to prepare you in the best possible way for your future. And if that means that you have a research paper due in my class, a script for a public service announcement in Dr. J's class, and footage for Dr. A due all in the same week, you work with it. It is what is. We do not make exceptions, we will not accept late work, and sloppy work is simply unacceptable.

Now we don’t act this way because we don’t like you or because we want to make your life miserable. No, this is what the industry expects of you, and it is our job to prepare you for that in the best possible way. If you want to succeed in anything related to the media, be it television or radio broadcasting, journalism, or research, you need to not only have all the required skills, you also need to know what you’re doing, have a critical attitude, and be prepared to outrun, outwork, out-know, and out-skill all of your competition. So don’t ever think that our classes are too hard, or too demanding; what you do here is merely a mirror of what you will be asked to do in the outside world. Get used to it, ‘cause this is what it’s going to be like from now on.

Now the good news is that you are all capable of being successful. Every single one of you has the ability to pass this class with flying colors, and do well in all of your other courses here too. You proved that by making it this far. However, not all of you will be successful. Unfortunately, past experience has shown us that not all of you sitting here today will pass this class, or even walk across the stage and receive your degree. This is not because of our program. This is not because our classes are too tough. This is not because we’re not always nice and cuddly. This is because of your attitude.

Your attitude is what will make the difference between success and failure in this program. If you want to play, and party, and leave writing papers, scripts, articles, studying, or shooting footage until the last moment because your sorority had rush, or your roommate had a really great party, or you really wanted to go home, I can guarantee you, you will not succeed. If you want to coast through, doing the bare minimum, not reading your assignments, copying your work from the Internet, using other people’s work to write your pieces, complaining the whole way, you will not succeed.

This is your job now. We need to be your first priority when you get up in the morning, and the last thing you think about before you go to bed. If you’re not having nightmares about my classes, or hearing Dr. A's voice in your heads, you’re not doing things right. I know that it’s cool to not study, and write papers 4am before they’re due. I know the hip thing to do is to complain and whine, but you know what, that kind of attitude needs to go now. You’re not longer in high school, where you can brush things off as unimportant, or your parents can help you out. You are in college now, where everything matters. You are all adults, and you need to realize that from this moment on, you are the only one responsible for your life, your success, your future. You hold sole accountability for what happens from this moment on. If you mess up, don’t blame anyone but yourself. If you do well, don’t thank anyone but yourself. If you get an A in my class, you have earned it yourself. If you fail, you have deserved that yourself. It’s all your call now.

You can be very successful. I have seen students blossom, in just one year. I've seen a student go from someone whose writing was shaky and attitude less than perfect, to someone who did so well at their newspaper internship they were offered a job while still in college. I have seen students put in hours and hours into their research projects, and get into graduate school, to hopefully, one day, teach young people like you. It is all possible. It’s all in you. It’s all up to you.

With each class, I hope that they will make me proud to be their teacher. It’s no different today – make me proud of you guys.