Gettysburg gave me an 'honorary degree' at our 50th reunion.
BOB SHRYOCK A friend who is sending his oldest son to Gettysburg College this fall called the other day for some advice. Should he live on or off campus as a freshman? Should he pledge fraternity in his frosh year or wait until he's a sophomore?
Asking me for advice about any aspect of college life is like asking Jeffrey Lurie if he thinks Chip Kelly did a nice job of coaching the Eagles last season.
First of all, I shouldn't have been there. More accurately, I didn't want to be there. Not so much G-burg, but anywhere.
I should have gone to a prep school to prepare for G-burg's academic severe challenges, or perhaps a good junior college, or even toted a gun in Korea. Because of my woeful reading comprehension, I studied a half hour a night, if that, in high school, settling for a C-plus average as a senior. Colleges laugh at you today if you flash those types of grades around.
And although I learned to love Gettysburg and its traditions (they presented me an "honorary degree" at our 50th reunion), that was not the case early on. I was ill-prepared to tackle and subdue the Contemporary Civilization book, which weighed half a ton, the frosh course load that confronted me and got horrific grades both semesters, eventually flunking out my junior year. Facing today's academic grind at an elite school like Gettysburg, my grades wouldn't have gotten me that far.
As far as fraternity life is concerned, there's good news and bad news. The good news: I loved the rituals and especially the friendships, a few of which still endure to this day. The bad news: Turns out I "majored" in fraternity life and "minored" in Frisbee and pool. Between that and waiting on tables at Phi Gamma Delta, I didn't leave much time for the truly important things, like pounding the books.
To this day, I question what was so fascinating about me that I managed to get invitations to join eight of the 13 on-campus fraternities. They wooed me every way possible, mostly at beer parties in the mountains. We frosh responded to handwritten invitations; then it became a bidding war. I selected Phi Gam because I felt I related to almost every one of the 17 guys in our pledge class.
Between transfers to Hagerstown Junior College for academic morale boosts, I have stuck tenaciously with the Fijis and their nuances and written often about the perils of excessive fraternity life.
I wouldn't trade those few years for any other college experience.
But I'm reminded of a sobering conversation I had with the publisher of a New England newspaper after I'd logged 25 years in the business. He told me he was ready to offer me the job as sports editor that would have been my highest paid position ever.
Publisher: "Bob, I forgot to to ask you, what school is your degree from?"
Bob: "Uh, I don't have a degree. Is that a problem...?
End of conversation. End of the line.
So, above all else, my advice is to study.
Bob Shryock may be reached at bshryock@njadvancemedia.com. Follow South Jersey Times on Twitter @TheSJTimes. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.