Episode 17: The College Graduate

Captain's log: Stardate: 2011.112. The primary directive of the crew of the USS Peter Barrow for the last 7 years has been to explore BYU campus, to seek out new knowledge and Bachelor's degree, to boldly go where numerous others have gone before. Having accomplished the primary directive, the crew has been put forward as a candidate worthy of promotion to rank of Bachelor of Science in the area of Mathematics. Following is a summary (incomplete) of the crew's accomplishments and secondary achievements procured during the mission:

I actually graduated in April, but am now just getting around to blogging about it. Actually, it isn't the actual graduation I want to blog about. More or less its some of the things that defined my BYU experience.

1) International Folk Dance Ensemble. Picture this. It's late summer, 2004. A lowly freshman finishes his dinner in the Cannon Center, heads back to Stover Hall to spend the remainder of the evening. He notices on the cork-board of announcements an invitation to audition for the BYU Folk Dance team, "No prior dance experience necessary." I've done a little dancing here and there in high school musicals, so I figure I'll probably have a leg, at least an ankle up on the competition.

I go to the designated try out spot at the designated time. Some of the guys from the team teach some of us newbies a few simple steps. We repeat them. I act cool and collected. I'm pulled aside and told I've made the team. (Later I find out that they are always in need of guys. I didn't so much MAKE the team as I DIDN'T NOT make the team. The try outs were more to see who wasn't fit for the team than to see who was).

I'm placed on team 10 WSC. This means I meet at 10 o'clock in the Wilkinson Student Center on Mon, Wed, Fri. We had a marvelous time together as a team. We were so close knit. I had an awesome freshman ward, but most of my really good friends came from the folk dance team. I met some good RMs that I really looked up to. My self-confidence was boosted from dancing with the really pretty and really cool girls. Some nights I'd be in my room studying, my phone would ring, and my peers from the team would invite me to hang with them. I remember one specific night we went to a local park, climbed up on an awning, lay down, and watched the stars for a while.

10 WSC, Fall 2004 (freshman).

10 WSC, Winter 2005

One of my more embarrassing moments also stemmed from this very class. I was dancing with a very pretty girl. We were doing a polka. I was wearing shoes, she wasn't. My foot came down on hers rather hard. She suddenly fell limp in my arms with a shriek of pain, "Aaaghh!"
"Are you all right?!" I exclaim, nervously praying she's okay.
"No!" She cries with tears welling up in her eyes.  This is the first time anyone has responded in the negative to my question. "I think my toe broke."
Indeed, I broke that poor girl's toe.

We learned some fun dances. My first semester we learned and performed a dance from Israel. My second semester we learned a really fun dance from Africa that African coal miners would perform in the mines to communicate called Gum Boots as I recall.

In Fall 2009, after a hiatus from folk dancing, I decided I really missed it. I came back to the team. The team I came back to, although different, was just as close knit as the one I left. We danced a plethora of dances together. It was a good year to come back. It was the 50th anniversary of the program. The Christmas Around the World performance that year was one to never forget. I was part of a special short Russian number, Troika (spelling?). The next semester we danced an intense Ukrainian number. There's this move at the end that involves the boys going down in a crouched position. The upper body remains very nearly still, while the legs move like sixty. My calves killed! It was all I could do to remain smiling during the applause rather than cry out "Charlie Horse!"

Troika, Fall 2009. I'm third man in from left.

Hutzel, Winter 2010. I'm sixth man from left.

Men's Chorus 08-09. I'm in there somewhere.

2) When I was in high school, I vowed that I would sing in the BYU Men's Chorus. I knew it would take some work, but I wanted to  prove to myself that I was able to sing in such a top rated, world famous choir. I hadn't been in any sort of choir since high school. The summer of 2008 I sang in the Spring Chorale with a friend and roommate to prepare for the daunting task of trying out for an audition-only choir. I took private voice lessons from my aunt as well. I give most (if not all) the credit to her for her help. I already have an entry on Men's Chorus, so I'll let you read that: http://augustflux.blogspot.com/2010/11/pilgrims-journey-home.html

The Christmas Around the World (Folk Dance) Celebration in 2009, I wasn't in Folk Dance, but I was in Men's Chorus. Folk Dance invited us to perform at their celebration. We were doing our Christmas performance the same exact nights, but while we were in the De Jong Concert Hall in the HFAC, the Folk Dance folks were in the Marriott Center. This meant singing our numbers on stage, leaving the HFAC, crossing the street as a choir in the frigid December night air, and sneaking on stage in the Marriott Center.

Part of the number with folk dance involved a few select members of Men's Chorus leaving our stands to dance with the Folk Dancers. I was one of these few. This actually inspired me to go back to dancing the following school year rather than sing in the Chorus again.

Me on graduation day. I'm first one from left and right.

3) When I came home from my mission, I initially wanted to be a business major ($$$). This meant taking Math 119, Calculus. I was admittedly nervous, seeing as how the last math class I took was 3+ years earlier when I was a junior in high school. It was 4 credit hours and was supposed to be my hardest class. Instead, it was my easiest. Allow me to brag momentarily. Everyone around me in lecture kept talking about how hard a time they were having with the material and the tests. Meanwhile, I was essentially napping (by "essentially" I mean "actually") through most lectures and still acing the tests. The material just came very naturally to me. Plus, I ENJOYED the material. I thought it was fascinating. It all made perfect sense to me. It was like science meets philosophy meets logic. I had an "Ah-ha" moment. Here was something I enjoyed and in which I got good grades! I did a little research and found that job opportunities are through the roof for people with good math backgrounds. I switched my major. I finally felt like I was where I belonged major-wise.

Me and my mathematically inclined peers. Can you find me?

That was probably the best decision I made at BYU. I loved the classes and the people. Math majors are, for the most part, really normal people. I made some really good friends in the math lab and accompanying "Nerd Aquarium," (a glass walled room in the math building in which math majors study).

So there you have it. I am a college graduate. So there.