Memories tops for ‘Mia’

Mai Hoang

Last spring I had my worst semester, grade-wise, ever. That semester I only had one A. The rest were Bs and Cs, which added up to a 2.8 grade point average. Yes, I know some of you would love to have a grade point average that high, but unfortunately I was raised with parents who feel that a B stands for “below average.”

So you can imagine the horror I felt when I saw on TopNet the two Cs I earned. (Lesson learned, I earned those Cs, my teacher didn’t give them to me.) I was scared. Lots of thoughts were running through my head. What if I don’t graduate with honors? What will my parents say? Why did I get Cs in the first place?

In my college career at Western I have received five Cs. Three of them were from the same professor. When I mention this, people often asked me why in the world I would want to take this professor if I kept getting such low grades.

Even though I scored less-than-stellar grades in said classes, I still learned a lot. There are things I learned in those classes I have not forgotten. I learned that in the 18th century, Baptists allowed women to preach on the pulpit. I also learned that Pentecostal women in the 1960s had guides to pleasing their husbands.

Yes, grades are important. I need to have high enough grades to graduate. But when I look back at my time at Western, grades are not going to be the first thing that come to mind.

What I will remember most is the awesome people I have met during my four years here. I will remember people like Zacchaeus, who was willing to dance crazy with me and listen to awesome indie music. I won’t forget people like my roommates, Liz and Priscilla, who I shared laughs with in the late night. I’ll even laugh when I think about Joe, my old news editor who has never called me by my real name. Even though he drove me crazy with his various names for me – “Hoanginator,” “Hoangy” and “Mia” – I will just smile.

I will remember the adventures I had in college. The random road trips to Chicago, Indianapolis and even Columbia, Mo. I’ll remember the frequent trips to Steak-n-Shake after Herald production nights, where our waitress always gratefully gave us discounts on our food. And of course, I’ll remember the dance parties – some of you know what I’m talking about.

I’ll remember the fun classes I took. I will remember putting together chocolate syrup covered fragments together in my Dead Sea Scrolls class. And the pursuit of trying to score 120 in bowling class and succeeding beyond my expectations (and completely failing too!). I will even remember Mr. Highland’s wild stories.

I came to college with goals: to get good grades, graduate, get my degree from President Ransdell, get a real job and graduate with honors.

But after four years, I have learned that no matter how permanent my grades will be on my Western transcript, it will be a distant memory soon enough.

Mai Hoang is a graduating news/editorial major from Louisville. Reach her at [email protected].