By Doug Hawkins
Arizona Daily Wildcat
May 13, 1998

Getting involved key to campus success

Four years ago I moved down to Tucson from Phoenix.

I was not happy to be here.

I had always pictured myself at some small, pricey liberal arts school but in-state tuition was such a bargain in comparison that my parents decided I would attend the UA.

So I did. I feared I'd become a number, a face in a crowded lecture hall.

Then one day during my freshman year, I had gone to an ATM on campus and forgot my backpack on the kiosk near the cash machines. Stupid move, I know. I tend to be a bit absent-minded at times, and I lose or misplace wallets, sunglasses, backpacks, etc. with alarming frequency. Anyway, the bag contained an expensive calculator, books and other important items.

A month later I received a call from a woman who worked in the biology department who had my backpack. She had looked in the bag and found a syllabus for a class I was taking and proceeded to obtain a class roster.

She then cross-referenced my initials from the back of the calculator with the roster. A woman I had never met had done some rather impressive detective work just to return a backpack to a forgetful student.

So now four years later, am I still upset? No, not at all. In fact, I wouldn't trade my education and overall UA experience for anything. Well, almost anything.

I realized that I was lucky to have my education paid for in the first place, no matter what institution I attended. I also learned that this isn't such a bad place after all. It's difficult to see sometimes, but everyone here, from instructors to administrators, cares about students more than we think.

Over the years, I have seen many other examples of faculty and staff going out of their way for students. At a school this big, though, they can't demonstrate such care for every student. Thus, the "I'm just a number, a face in a crowded lecture hall" feeling. However, when we students take charge of our education and work to make ourselves more than just a face, we are treated as such. It is possible to receive the very same quality of education here that one pays top dollar to receive at the small private schools I hoped to attend. The difference is that what is handed to all students at smaller schools must be actively sought out on a campus such as ours. This seems to be a more accurate depiction of the "real world" we hear so much about, in that few things of value will be given to those who do nothing to earn them.

One way of earning those things of value is to get involved. The benefit of such a large and diverse campus is that any student can find something of interest to do outside the classroom. I chose to work at the Arizona Daily Wildcat, and my three years in its advertising department have been incredibly rewarding. I've worked with the gentleman that places that cryptic May Day full-page ad every year and with numerous business owners in our community. There are a ton of great people in this town, and more than a few of them are quite weird.

The May Day guy is, as one might imagine, extremely interesting and fun to work with, though he remains incredibly tight-lipped as to what the ad actually means.

I will miss this university, this city and all the people I've met in the last four years. I've learned a lot in class and out, drank a bunch of beer, met some incredible people, and witnessed the chaos that accompanies a NCAA men's basketball title. I couldn't ask for more.

By the way, has anyone seen my keys?

Doug Hawkins is sales manager for the Arizona Daily Wildcat. He is graduating with a degree in management information systems.