As anyone in Academia can tell you, a great professor is worth more than 1,000 scholarships.  A great professor can be the nicest lady or the meanest sonofabitch, but they are the few people not only willing to test you, push you and get you to succeed, but they're the ones that are able to help open doors for you.  In High School, there's always that one teacher who people dread taking because the tests kill you - in a University, the professors doing that are the ones driving you to succeed.  I had two different Organic Chemistry professors, I still talk to both.  One was a former researcher at Stanford University, 3 of her former students have gone on to win the Nobel Prize (2 in Medicine, 1 in Chemistry).  Her tests were insane.  Our 3rd exam had a class average of 27%.  I had the highest grade with a 39%.  It was still an F, but I was fucking happy I had that F.  Sure, it meant I got 61% of the exam wrong, but it also meant that I got 39% of an exam right.  An exam Dr. L admitted most of us wouldn't do so hot on.  She knew no one would do well, but she still gave it to us.  A lot of people thought, "What a bitch!"  Myself and a few others, we were ready to sink our teeth into it.  We wanted to prove we were above the curve.  We wanted to prove we were worthy of the legacy of those Nobel Prize winners.  Crazy?  Perhaps, but between the 6 of us, we have just over $2M in grant money.  


My second O-Chem prof was a crack up.  He knew how to motivate students to learn this stuff.  He'd show us the structure of cocaine or crystal meth, and tie that in with the synthesis procedure we were learning.  He showed us how to make THC out of a compound you could separate out of butter (chocolate is easier, but I won't tell you why).  This is the kind of thing that gets people alert and paying attention.  His exams were hard, but not as hard as Dr. Long's.  He let us use a cheat sheet, she didn't.  He let us use a reaction index, she didn't.  He let us use a table of spectroscopy standards, she didn't.  And, I know what you're thinking, "She's a total bitch."  She isn't.  Dr. R gave us a crutch with the index, the cheat sheet, etc.  You still had to know your shit.  A false sense of security doesn't help you.  Everyone who got an A in his class had two things in common, and this is according to Dr. R...the cheat sheets had almost nothing there, and we never flipped through our reaction index.  

<p> There is another difference between the two. Dr. L was in lab all the time, she was there to answer questions and hold our hand. Dr. R took a sink or swim approach. We are adults, nominally, and should know how to follow directions and have enough chemistry experience to trouble shoot our reactions. Who's the better professor now? Neither. Like I said, I still talk to both of them. They both have heard me complain and bitch about another professor either in the Chemistry department or another. Both have given me letters of recommendation for grants, awards and internships. I owe my current lab position to both of them - they had both worked with my Research Advisor and told him that I should be brought in. The both of them are awesome professors, they both work their students incredibly hard, but that's to be expected if you actually want to do more than just "get by."

<p> I have had quite a few great professors that I still talk to. Everyone from a visiting Sociology professor, an English prof, a Bio prof and a visiting Physics professor. Either by e-mail or stopping by their office. My English professor, if he doesn't hear from me every so often, bugs me to see what I'm writing in terms of journal articles or my own short stories. My sociology professor will e-mail me every now and then about current events. And my Research Advisor. That bastard I see every day, but he's gone to bat for me on multiple occasions. When it came to grants, stipends and compensation for my work, he's been the first one knocking on the Division Dean's door. For publications, he's a great guy. He'll put our names before his, even if it was largely his concept. He claims that he's old and doesn't need the recognition anymore, better it go to someone who can still explain it later on in the future. Sure, it's morbid, but it's a huge gesture. Getting an article published in the Journal of Organic Chemistry is like getting a news story you wrote on the front page of the New York Times or Washington Post. It's big news.

<p> And what about the not so great professors? There's a lot of them. Certainly, for someone else some of the professors I've found to be mediocre or sub-par are inspiring someone else in their field. And it's not just in Academia, either. In your life, there are going to be people that will just push you and push you and keep on pushing you to be better than you are now. When you find those people, thank them. If they can make you stop, look around your surrounding critically, think about what you're seeing and work to make it better, they've done more than getting an easy A ever will. GPA is fleeting, inspiration makes you better.

<p>

On to the Clan News.

<p>

Tridens has currently taken the lead in the Clan Wargames. Tridens has 420 points to Gladius' 8. Get the 420 jokes out of your system now, I thought of them all in the 5 seconds it took to write this. :P I have declared two Prefects for the Clan so far - Merlance and Welshman.

<p>

Still to be graded are Graphics I. Battleplan event I went out. II will go out tomorrow, along with Graphics II.

<p>

In the recent SA Runon crescents were picked up by Donitz, Windos, Kazarelth and Katarzyna. Donitz also took 2nd overall for the Runons.

<p>

Merlance picked up a Legion of the Scholar for last week's SA trivia.

<p>

Clusters of Fire were also awarded to Korras, Merlance, Karel, Sephiroth Storm, Frosty and Archean. Congratulations to all those who took home awards recently.

<p>

Grand Master Jac (...part of Run DJB?) stepped down this past week. This was Jac's second term as GM. In fact, I just wrote this after I wrote up the bit above.

<p>

These reports pretty much hinge on what I put above, and I like what I put above. A lot of you seem to do so as well. I get replies consistently about them. In fact, I've probably met quite a few members who don't normally hop on IRC or AIM this way. So, keep those replies coming. In fact, I might start posting replies in my reports.

<p>

Until next time,

Maxamillian von Oberst-Tarentae</p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>