And now as I enter my senior year, it seems like yesterday I was being rung in, meeting new people, and dreading what Wabash was going to be like. There\u2019s no doubt Wabash challenges you every second of every day, but it has also provided me with opportunities that few get to experience while in school, and for that, I am extremely thankful.<\/p>\n
It was after my mother and I attended Top Ten day everything came into perspective. The alumni support offered at this institution was out-of-this-world. And to this day, it still amazes me. I have always been interested in broadcasting\u2014particularly sports broadcasting. I knew Wabash did not have a major in this area. It still doesn\u2019t. I trusted the alumni support system to help get me where I wanted to go. We do have many alumni in the Journalism field, and my family and I knew that relationships were of high importance when finding a job. So I gave it a shot. After my first week, I was put in contact with Sports Information Director, Brent Harris, who gave me an opportunity to immediately<\/i> begin broadcasting Wabash sports.<\/p>\n Other institutions wanted me to apply, or interview, or wait until I was older to even handle a microphone\u2014not to mention there were hundreds or thousands of other kids waiting in line to get their chance at developing into the next Al Michaels. As a freshman at Wabash, I got the opportunity instantly. I didn\u2019t have to wait. The support system was already taking shape. And now after three years, many road trips, and gallons of Jenny\u2019s ice cream later, Brent and I have forged a friendship I hope will last for years to come once I graduate\u2014all while refining the necessary skills to excel in the Journalism field. You don\u2019t find that everywhere, but at Wabash, it\u2019s a staple\u2014a commitment to young men. If it wasn\u2019t for many of the employees in the Communications and Marketing Office, I still would not be where I want. Kim Johnson, Howard Hewitt, and Richard Paige have been instrumental in preparing me for my years after Wabash. And just like Brent, those friendships will last forever, because that\u2019s what Wabash takes pride in. That\u2019s why you come to a school like this. You meet people who care and want to help get you where you want go. It\u2019s why Wabash is unique and stands out among its peers.<\/p>\n To this day, I can walk into any of their offices and have a conversation about anything. It\u2019s hard for me to picture doing that any many other places. You\u2019re going to make friendships with people wherever you go, but Wabash has built a reputation on these relationships. Yes, we educate doctors, lawyers, CEOs, etc. but those alumni will agree\u2014friendships and relationships are the most important thing about Wabash and pushing you to do great things. If you don\u2019t reach out and use the resources afforded to you, there won\u2019t be as many friendships. Just in the past few years, those friendships have given me the chance to meet an alum working as a Producer for CBS News, a sports broadcaster for the Indiana Pacers, an FBI agent, the President of the NCAA, and an ESPN personality. Again, had I gone elsewhere, most of those opportunities would not have been present. Even traveling with the football team to broadcast their games would not have been a possibility.<\/p>\n People will tell you when finding a job, it\u2019s about who you know. At Wabash, you have a chance to meet many alumni in various roles across the country. They are there for students to use and reach out to\u2014because at one time, they were doing the same thing, and having the same struggles. This probably reads like recruitment mail\u2014it\u2019s not. Nobody forced me to write this, I wanted to share how important Wabash is. When you come to a place as special as Wabash, don\u2019t sell yourself short. Go after it. What\u2019s the worst that could happen? Wabash is there to help you\u2014be sure to use it. And, personal thanks should be extended to those who have helped me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Clayton Randolph is a senior at Wabash, majoring in History. During the summer of 2014 he interned in the Communications and Marketing Office. This summer he is interning at Angie’s List in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/07\/IMG_8435.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2594"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3748,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2594\/revisions\/3748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Randolph](\"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/07\/IMG_8435.jpg\")
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