Did They Know School Wasn’t my Thing?

Sam here!

So I was recently approached to become a member of the Digital Marketing Advisory Council for George Washington University's Executive programs. My first thought, you ask? Do they know I sucked at school?

Let me take you back in time to my Kindergarten days to start, where some of my first memories were being anxious about school. The summer in-between preschool and Kindergarten, my mom and a few other moms signed us up for summer reading classes with my soon-to-be-teacher. I knew my alphabet (I think) but really just memorized the books my mom read to me most often and would often "pretend" to read. I LOVED the idea of reading, not the journey to learn how. Later on in life, I'd learn the panic I used to feel during those classes was anxiety. Who knew?!

In first grade, I remember crying to my mom because I didn't understand how to do some type of math. As a tiny six year old I remember crying and saying, "If I don't get this now, how will I go to second grade or third grade, and I subsequently named off each grade until I got to, I think, "24th grade" until I calmed down a bit.

Fast forward to high school, and I was a decent student. Mostly B's, and a couple of C's where anything math-related was concerned. Shout out to Mr. Unger for somehow getting me through my math classes without flunking. I could study for hours on end, but I'd get to a test and completely blank out. That's super fun and helpful when your grades rely on your test-taking ability - or lack thereof if you were like me.

In college, I struggled HARD. In my first two years, I played D1 college softball, a job in itself with a full 18 credit hours my freshman year because that's what the academic-athletic advisor suggested. Since I had never been to college, I thought 18 credit hours was the norm, and I should be able to handle it. Little did I know, people usually take 12-15 credits and didn't have 20 hours of practice a week plus whatever other time you wanted to put in, and a mandatory 10 hours in a particular study hall room. That "study hall" did absolutely nothing for me other than have me counting the hours until I was free from jail and wishing I could study somewhere quiet and non-jail-like, like the other non-student athletes. When we were in season, I would miss a ton of class, making it hard to keep up for someone who wasn't great at self-guided learning, had undiagnosed ADD at the time, and crashed from continually being on the go.

In my final years in college, I was barely keeping my head above water to finish out business school. My chosen concentration was in Marketing, which I excelled at, but having to take other classes like Calculus (yes, you read that right, and I'm still mad it was a requirement) tanked my confidence. I wondered if I would ever graduate. Thankfully I pushed through and finally got that degree.

Now that you know my history with school, I think you'll understand why it was such a shock to be asked to join this council.

After looking into the curriculum, I was pleasantly surprised. Unlike my undergrad degree, the classes are centered around real-world topics and tools rather than textbook marketing definitions. I'm very excited to help guide the curriculum for those who aren't traditional learners and ensure that the content is relevant out here in the field.

As part of the council position requirements, I'll have to take every module just like a typical student. But this time around, I'm excited to be back to school and hopefully helping those who enroll in the program in the future to propel their career to where they want it to go.

I'll be updating you on my journey as I go, so stay tuned!