This Is a Story of a Boy

Jeffrey Poley, CHE 205 Section 002

December 6, 2006

It’s over, it’s really over. These words repeated over and over in Gordo’s head as he confidently strolled out of his room at the fraternity house, finally heading home for the winter. The ordeal that was Chemical Process Principles (205 for short) had, in fact, finally come to an end earlier that day. Confident now, he couldn’t help but look back at himself a mere four months earlier.

This is the story of a boy. A boy who found himself thrust into an unfamiliar setting and torn away from his comfort zone. This is the story of a boy who came to find that the most important things one can learn often have little to do with a text or a test, notes or a notebook.

Chapter 1: The Ordeal Begins

Gordo sat quietly in room 1011 and a lump began to grow in his throat. Looking around, he clearly was not the only one experiencing this sensation. It was as though a sense of dread had overtaken the entire room and there was no escaping its grasp. Sure, the older engineers: his mentor, his friends, the guy working at the Crown on Western Boulevard who quit school after three and a half years tried to warn him. They had all tried to warn him. Tried. What did they know, anyway? He had cruised through high school, his freshman year was a joke, what could this university POSSIBLY have in store for him? Little did he know, little did he know…

Doctor Bullard was standing at the front of the room, of course. Inexplicably, she seemed delighted to be standing before a group of 150 dreary-eyed, terrified sophomores in EB1. How she managed to be so enthusiastic day in and day out was a mystery, one which our hero would never quite grasp. Anyway, she was quite excited to get the year underway. This, our hero realized, was a sign. A sign of what, he was not quite sure. He anticipated either an exciting course, filled with a wealth of fun, or a voluminous overload of mind-numbing information. He optimistically hoped for the former, but was betting on the latter. Well, let’s get this show on the road, he thought to himself.

Chapter 2: Ordeal Was Right…

“Open your coursepacks” chirped Dr. Bullard in her ever-pleasant tone.

Coursepack? What coursepack? Did I miss it at the bookstore? All these things raced through Gordo’s mind, in addition to the thought of the $400 he had already spent on books. These thoughts quickly subsided as the students seemed to simultaneously walk to the front of the room and pick up the coursepack in question. Somehow, he had missed that memo, but jumped on the bandwagon and relieved himself of another new $20 from his wallet. Well that’s fine, he thought, I don’t really need to eat today or tomorrow.

Finally, upon retrieving said coursepack, he turned to the first page. He stared slack-jawed at the monstrosity before him. Cooling towers, heat exchange, and those were just the words he understood. What was all this on the page? Is this even English? I can’t even keep my eyes open and now I have to solve a visual Rubix Cube? These were only a few of the thoughts racing through his head. The rest have been removed in the interest of keeping this tale rated PG.

“This,” Dr. Bullard graciously interrupted “looks insane, does it not?”

The response from the less-than-enthused crowd was a mix of relief and groaning agreement. Gordo was in fact relieved that he was not being expected to solve it immediately, although he remained somewhat skeptical towards the professor’s claim that this would seem easy by the end of the semester. After all, it took him longer than a semester to learn Spanish, and at least Spanish contained the basic elements of a language and seemed to be organized in a mildly logical fashion.

I digress, though, as this tale has much left to say.

Chapter 3: The Momentum Builds

Just as Gordo’s first day seemed to fly by in a blur, so too did those first few weeks of CHE 205. Before he even realized it, the first test was upon him. Harrelson, Friday, 3–5 PM. Harrelson, Friday, 3–5 PM. As though reading his thoughts, Dr. Bullard reiterated this information by writing it on the board and explaining that an hour and fifteen minutes just simply wasn’t enough time to finish an engineering test. Sweet…

He wondered why they couldn’t just take the tests in class, like a normal course. He would find out soon enough. As he trudged up the stairs, trying to remember what a poundal and a slug were, and wondering if the fact that he had bombed the first three homework assignments was a problem. Gordo approached the room and couldn’t help but notice that his uneasiness was clearly not his alone. Rather, the hallways were already filled with a conglomeration of nervous wrecks. If there was any consolation he could take from this fact it was that at least he had not yet sweated through all of his clothing, as many of his classmates had seemed to have done.

“Take your seats.” Doctor Bullard chimed, in her typically upbeat tone.

“Write your name on the Blue Book, take a test page, and you may begin.” Those were her only instructions. At least he hoped those were the only instructions, as our hero’s eyes had already glazed over and his mind feverishly raced to read the printed directions. Thus, it had begun…

The test flew by, as did the weekend, in a blur of hope, doubt, and the next week’s problem set. The tests were already graded, so at least he could finally exhale. The results, on the other hand, were not as he had hoped. While the grade was not what he wanted, nor was it the kind of grade to which he was accustomed, it was still well above the class average. He supposed that was something to be proud of and anyway, what’s done is done. In the meantime, the lecture had already started and Gordo turned back to the ever faithful coursepack.

Chapter 4: The Turning Point

This, Gordo thought, was what he had been waiting for. Everything just clicked. The gaseous mole fractions could be determined by an equation of state, the liquid was in equilibrium, Raoult, Antoine, SRK, IT ALL MADE SENSE! He couldn’t stop writing, for fear that this fountain of thought would disappear and his pencil would cease to write coherently. After all, despite his newfound confidence, overconfidence would not be a mistake he would soon make again.

You see, gentle reader, the weeks had once again flown by. This time, however, they flew by in a logical and ordered fashion rather than with the incoherent flashes of foreign language with which the semester had begun. In the previous weeks, the course had taken a decided turn in young Gordo’s favor. The information was slowing down, or perhaps his brain had merely become accustomed to the speed with which it was being presented. Either way, he knew he liked the feeling and he knew he loved the course. All of this was information he wished the “sages” he had spoken to before the course began had provided him.

I am sure you are concerned with the actual outcome of this confidence newly found by our protagonist. As it happens, the intrepid youngster’s confidence was fully justified. He DID make the highest grade on test 2! He nearly leaped a foot upon learning this news, just as I am sure you are doing at this very moment. Once again, however, in the interest of time, I digress.

Chapter 5: The Saga Continues: Group Work

Just prior to that previous test, the one he aced in case you were wondering, Gordo received his group assignment. This was no problem in and of itself, as all the members of his group seemed to be nice individuals, and all appeared both willing and able to contribute their fair share. There was a downside to this new development, as there always is, however. You see, Gordo was a bit of a ‘loner’ when it came to school work. Unlike many of the new engineers, he did not spend much time on centennial campus doing his work. Rather, he found it far more comforting comfortable to complete the work on his own time with all the wonderfully familiar distractions of the fraternity house. This, he realized, would no longer work, as the other members of his group were not likely to agree to accommodate his bizarre work habits.

The point of this the forced group work, however inconvenient it may have been, Gordo realized, was a valid and important one. In engineering, everyone with a degree is competent in terms of math, science, and processes. The difference between an engineer, and a good engineer, he had come to see, was the ability to interact with others. For this reason, Gordo was determined to make the group assignments work. And make them work he did…

If you could see the things he did, you would probably deem them to be ridiculous. Long, occasionally sleepless nights of problem sets with the team, and white boards filled with flow charts that made anyone walking by shake their head. Despite these things, I would venture, Gordo would not change a moment of this even if he had the chance. All of these things led to his development as an engineer, a teammate, and a person. With each successive assignment, he grew more and more confident in himself and those on whom he had come to depend and befriend.

Chapter 6: The Exciting Conclusion

With this information now at your disposal, you may have a small glimpse into the world that is a 205 student’s life. Once again, we join the Prince of Process, the Sultan of SRK, and the Regality of Raoult in his room, surveying the scene as he prepares to close the door on both the living quarters and the semester. You see, having just finished his final exam, the time had come for rest and relaxation at home with his family and pets.

“I am an engineer” he said quietly to himself, while immediately realizing that anyone around him would of course question his sanity. That didn’t matter to him, though. The only thing that mattered is he had stared the Beast in the face, and prospered where so many had failed. If reveling in that fact made him insane, then so be it. So be it…

Epilogue

Now you may find yourself wondering who am I to be relaying the stories of another’s trials and tribulations. Well, my friend, I, of course, am ‘Gordo’. The words you read are my own and the growth I experienced I chose to relay to you in the only way in which I knew. So I hope that if you find yourself in the same seat in EB1 in which I situated myself that late summer day, you may take these words to heart and know that no matter how desperate the situation may seem, all you need is what you already possess. If you can find this within you, you cannot fail. You will not fail.

This was the story of a boy, or at least the beginning of his story. A boy who came to find the most important things to be learned are those which he already knew.

Fin