NACURH Blog, Final Thoughts
One score ago, one of the most monumental experiences of my life culminated. I previously wrote about the closing moments of the evening, in a sort of happy daze. Realize that throughout all of this there was a lot of hard work put into the conference. Monday and a little bit of Tuesday was just that: work. Not bad work. It's weird to be dedicated to a dream for over three years and see it all get packed up, consolidated, stored, and put away in a day or two (also considering that it took three different office spaces, in three weeks to get everything ready to go for three days).
When the dust settled...there was a sigh of relief, and a little bit of withdrawal. Twenty days have passed, and truly, my brain both remembers the sensation and feels as if it was eons ago.
As an aside, and my apologies if this seems a little braggadocios, but I am very honored and grateful for receiving a gold pin. I believe I explained previously that each region gets 8 silver pins, and schools get 8 bronze pins to hand out to whomever every year. For NACURH, the National Chair hands out 8 gold pins as well. I was fortunate enough to receive one of the first bronze pins years ago when our campus started to do it, and thought they were pretty cool. I know that the gold pin is a huge thing for those who know about it. It's one of those odd awards because they are mostly given out to folks whom the chair knows really well, often leaving the audience thinking "what did this person do? who is this guy?"
I mean no disrespect to Mike Marshall for awarding me a gold pin, but I'm sure that a few thousand folks in the room, after my friends read a great blurb about me, were going "ok dude, get off stage, we're hot." So for those who read this, and know that I got one, I'd like to share what it means to me, in addition the kinds words Ben, Allyson, & Jacque shared:
All my life, I've dreamed of attending the academy awards (I still do). The chance to be recognized for creating something: a film, a script, etc. I've been nominated for several awards during my time as a student conference goer, NCC, Advisor, etc. All of those nominations have been near and dear to me. And I've always felt honored to be in the same category as the others who received those awards.
Receiving a gold pin is very much like receiving an Oscar...it's like when Steven Spielberg got his first Oscar...you look back and think "it's not just for this one thing that I did, but many things, many things which I'm proud of, and passionate about." It was an unexpected joy. As was the experience of working with everyone here at Oshkosh on NACURH, and seeing everyone come together, and seeing everyone make it through all obstacles, and knowing that somewhere, out there, some kid was at NACURH 2007 and thought "hey, this looks like fun, I want to see how many of these I can go to."
For me, this journey didn't just started when Kate Saletri and Cullen Rude approached me, it started in the Fall of 1996. I've mentioned it before; sitting at the closing ceremonies of GLACURH '96 thinking and dreaming. Wondering what it would take for me to be a part of this. Throughout 25 conferences I've learned many things which inspired me to write this list poem:
Steps
First step in a broken sandal, feet sweating, silent in a roaring crowd.
Second step in a polished shoe, brow sweating, spoke to a glaring gallery.
Third step on a grassy field, back sweating, thrust a pelvis in sync with hundreds.
Fourth step in a dirty cleat, felt cleansed.
Fifth step in the Big City, felt small.
Sixth step in a cowboy boot, felt gambler lucky.
Seventh step as a pirate, band together for the common 'arrrr'!
Eighth step as a dentist, smiled together in as friends held plaques.
Ninth step as a leader, learned from a together group of rookies.
Tenth step returned home, teared among costumed celebrants.
Eleventh step returned home, years of success recognized in one moment.
Twelfth step said goodbye, a mountainous passing of the torch.
Thirteenth step was spirited, as the proudest monkey.
Fourteenth step as the proudest monkey was a sincere applause.
Fifteenth step as the proudest monkey, was a spirited thank you to sun devils.
Sixteenth step as an alumni.
Seventeenth step as an advisor.
Eighteenth step as a guest. Each step closer to a dream.
Nineteenth, stepped on stage in striped socks, stepped off stage consoling a crew of dreamers.
Twentieth, stepped on stage, shared tales of curly haired kids & singing in the shower.
Twenty-first, stepped off stage, welcomed younger dreamers home.
Twenty-second: watched the tech guy step up; watched a team step up in unity and success.
Twenty-third: watched the gray hair step up; reminisced about a decade burned away.
Twenty-fourth: reminisced with a friend; watched the crowd roar by.
Twenty-fifth step, one last one, one small one, just one more, one more tear, one more cheer, one more story, one more smile, one more step, on stage, one more thanks, one more pin, one more tear, one final step off stage, saying good bye.
pb
When the dust settled...there was a sigh of relief, and a little bit of withdrawal. Twenty days have passed, and truly, my brain both remembers the sensation and feels as if it was eons ago.
As an aside, and my apologies if this seems a little braggadocios, but I am very honored and grateful for receiving a gold pin. I believe I explained previously that each region gets 8 silver pins, and schools get 8 bronze pins to hand out to whomever every year. For NACURH, the National Chair hands out 8 gold pins as well. I was fortunate enough to receive one of the first bronze pins years ago when our campus started to do it, and thought they were pretty cool. I know that the gold pin is a huge thing for those who know about it. It's one of those odd awards because they are mostly given out to folks whom the chair knows really well, often leaving the audience thinking "what did this person do? who is this guy?"
I mean no disrespect to Mike Marshall for awarding me a gold pin, but I'm sure that a few thousand folks in the room, after my friends read a great blurb about me, were going "ok dude, get off stage, we're hot." So for those who read this, and know that I got one, I'd like to share what it means to me, in addition the kinds words Ben, Allyson, & Jacque shared:
All my life, I've dreamed of attending the academy awards (I still do). The chance to be recognized for creating something: a film, a script, etc. I've been nominated for several awards during my time as a student conference goer, NCC, Advisor, etc. All of those nominations have been near and dear to me. And I've always felt honored to be in the same category as the others who received those awards.
Receiving a gold pin is very much like receiving an Oscar...it's like when Steven Spielberg got his first Oscar...you look back and think "it's not just for this one thing that I did, but many things, many things which I'm proud of, and passionate about." It was an unexpected joy. As was the experience of working with everyone here at Oshkosh on NACURH, and seeing everyone come together, and seeing everyone make it through all obstacles, and knowing that somewhere, out there, some kid was at NACURH 2007 and thought "hey, this looks like fun, I want to see how many of these I can go to."
For me, this journey didn't just started when Kate Saletri and Cullen Rude approached me, it started in the Fall of 1996. I've mentioned it before; sitting at the closing ceremonies of GLACURH '96 thinking and dreaming. Wondering what it would take for me to be a part of this. Throughout 25 conferences I've learned many things which inspired me to write this list poem:
Steps
First step in a broken sandal, feet sweating, silent in a roaring crowd.
Second step in a polished shoe, brow sweating, spoke to a glaring gallery.
Third step on a grassy field, back sweating, thrust a pelvis in sync with hundreds.
Fourth step in a dirty cleat, felt cleansed.
Fifth step in the Big City, felt small.
Sixth step in a cowboy boot, felt gambler lucky.
Seventh step as a pirate, band together for the common 'arrrr'!
Eighth step as a dentist, smiled together in as friends held plaques.
Ninth step as a leader, learned from a together group of rookies.
Tenth step returned home, teared among costumed celebrants.
Eleventh step returned home, years of success recognized in one moment.
Twelfth step said goodbye, a mountainous passing of the torch.
Thirteenth step was spirited, as the proudest monkey.
Fourteenth step as the proudest monkey was a sincere applause.
Fifteenth step as the proudest monkey, was a spirited thank you to sun devils.
Sixteenth step as an alumni.
Seventeenth step as an advisor.
Eighteenth step as a guest. Each step closer to a dream.
Nineteenth, stepped on stage in striped socks, stepped off stage consoling a crew of dreamers.
Twentieth, stepped on stage, shared tales of curly haired kids & singing in the shower.
Twenty-first, stepped off stage, welcomed younger dreamers home.
Twenty-second: watched the tech guy step up; watched a team step up in unity and success.
Twenty-third: watched the gray hair step up; reminisced about a decade burned away.
Twenty-fourth: reminisced with a friend; watched the crowd roar by.
Twenty-fifth step, one last one, one small one, just one more, one more tear, one more cheer, one more story, one more smile, one more step, on stage, one more thanks, one more pin, one more tear, one final step off stage, saying good bye.
pb
posted by Peter Brooks at 1:01 PM
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