I am being completely honest when I say I am a horrible student.

I’ve never been able to put my finger on the problem. I actually love the idea of higher education and I love to learn. I always buy my textbooks so I can read through them after my classes have ended.

The main problem might be that I don’t start reading my textbooks until after my classes have ended. Or even more likely, it’s because I’ve gotten a taste of the “real world” and can no longer take arbitrary deadlines seriously.

Like I said, I’m a horrible student.

As a journalist, I understand deadlines and due dates. I have no problem getting The Sunflower to the printers on time each night.

But, for some reason, I can’t get a simple homework assignment completed.

To me, making deadline for a real publication is a serious issue. Newspapers can’t miss deadline. But a homework assignment? Being a few days—or weeks—late isn’t a big deal to me anymore.

I’ve been in college so long that the difference between an A and a C on my GPA is miniscule. I currently have enough credits to graduate, and mentally I have already left college far behind.

Which puts my teachers in a bit of a quandary.

I’ve made both of my jobs, each in the field of journalism, a top priority. School is third or fourth—on a good day.

It’s not something I’m proud of. I certainly don’t recommend this to anyone else. But one of the great things about wanting to be a journalist is that most newspapers simply don’t care about your GPA.

Good for me, bad for my teachers. I get along great with all of them, and I believe they honestly like me as a person and as a professional. As a student, probably not so much.

Which is why I wanted to publicly say I’m sorry. And it’s probably not going to get any better any time soon.

What needs to happen? I need to get the hell out of college, that’s what.

Until then, I suppose I can beg for sympathy. I mean, running a newspaper is extremely time consuming, and often means you are working on other people’s schedules.

So, that day I missed class? Yeah, was probably working on an assignment for the newspaper. Sorry about that.

Of course, the best thing for me to do would be to start doing my homework. You know, when it’s assigned. My grades would certainly benefit, and my teachers would be much happier with me.

Maybe I’ll give it a try—at least once. If it doesn’t work out, then I will be very thankful I chose a career where GPA isn’t highly regarded.

Let me finish by saying sorry to all of my teachers. I am grateful to all of you as mentors and friends, and can’t thank you enough for all you have done for me.

I promise I’ll try to do better. Just don’t hold your breath when waiting for my next homework assignment.