CCC Spring 2013 | Page 6

Duke MEMP

6

Genuine Words

Don't just concentrate on the bow tie, the man is wise.

Extracurricular Thank-vestment

In the day to day of an MEM student, we are polite with each other, friends we’ve made, professors, faculty and staff. This is generally a triumph for human beings, but we’re MEMers, right? Let’s take a deeper look into people outside of ourselves for a quick second.

Of the professors in the program, some have left lucrative jobs and all make great sacrifices to teach us what we need to know about this new, respected field where engineers are respected for their analytical abilities. The faculty and staff e-mail us and work to change the program for us and people coming after us. We don’t really say thank you enough given this simple reflection. Sometimes, it’s because we’re working so hard in class, but usually it’s because we’re trying to develop ourselves in another way.

Other students, however, aren’t doing anything but work and…well, work. Many of our elite MEM classmates are volunteering their time on the PDC in various ways, helping make our time here the best they can. We should make sure to thank them for the yearbook and updates. We can make sure we thank our professors, the faculty, and staff, when we see them. I don’t think anyone would disagree to being more proactive in this effort. I propose something slightly different, as well.

The people who clean up after us at facilities management, the people who work at Twinnie’s and Bryan Center, and people who drive our buses – do you ever ask them how they’re doing? I know I never asked until one night at the University of Maryland at a certain early morning hour returning to campus. The bus was full of people acting…let’s say illicitly. I turned to see the driver acting calm, but looking depressed. We had a short talk on the way back. His life and sacrifice for the job and his family was worthy of a thank you and respect when he could have been home.

"We don’t really say thank you enough..."