2008 Woodie Awards
Fall into the GAAP
Jacqueline Wolfert
Issue date: 1/29/03 Section: Commentary
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This fall I arrived at Georgetown as a nervous, but very excited, freshman. Coming from a small suburb of Pittsburgh, I was thrilled to take on the challenge of Washington and anything Georgetown had to offer. As the weeks flew by, I found myself inundated with econ problem sets, theology readings and proseminar papers. While I escaped from my cave of a dorm room for class, meals, Indy meetings and the occasional disappointing speech (see: Sandra Day O'Connor), I felt I was losing touch with my new friends and not becoming involved in many of the activities I had so eagerly anticipated. When I came home for Thanksgiving break, everyone asked how much I was enjoying the city and the college I had talked about endlessly before I left for Georgetown. It was at this point that I realized how little I had taken advantage of the resources around me. While I had been enjoying my classes and the few events I attended on a regular basis, I had managed to neglect a whole other area of "the college experience" that many of my friends from home couldn't stop talking about.
Yet I returned to Georgetown only to be immersed once again in the great chore of studying for finals. Washington would just have to wait until I achieved at least passing grades in all of my subjects. Somewhere during that time period, however, I found some free time and volunteered with some friends to make phone calls for the Georgetown Admissions Ambassador Program.
There is an episode of Friends ("The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS," for all of you Friends fanatics) where Phoebe argues with Joey that there is undeniably such a thing as a selfless good deed. Phoebe proceeds to prove her point by allowing herself to be stung by a bee (but the bee dies) and even calling Joey on a telethon to pledge money for the station she hates (but Joey is recognized as answering the millionth call). In short, the moral of this Friends episode was that in fact, there is no good deed in which the person performing it does not feel some sense of gratification.
Yet I returned to Georgetown only to be immersed once again in the great chore of studying for finals. Washington would just have to wait until I achieved at least passing grades in all of my subjects. Somewhere during that time period, however, I found some free time and volunteered with some friends to make phone calls for the Georgetown Admissions Ambassador Program.
There is an episode of Friends ("The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS," for all of you Friends fanatics) where Phoebe argues with Joey that there is undeniably such a thing as a selfless good deed. Phoebe proceeds to prove her point by allowing herself to be stung by a bee (but the bee dies) and even calling Joey on a telethon to pledge money for the station she hates (but Joey is recognized as answering the millionth call). In short, the moral of this Friends episode was that in fact, there is no good deed in which the person performing it does not feel some sense of gratification.