Savage Words: I never wanted to build a rocket, fly to Mars or be an interior designer

When I went to the University of Sioux Falls nearly four decades ago, the required number of credits to graduate was 128.0.

After FIVE years, I graduated with…128.0 credits. In other words, I nearly went into my sixth year, and let me be very clear, I wasn’t working towards a Master’s Degree.

To put it even simpler: I wasn’t a great student. But I was able to grind it out, and five years removed from high school, I had my Bachelor’s degree in journalism.

I wasn’t sure where that’d take me, but I’m grateful for the last 35 years of covering sports. My first game story ran in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader in October of 1991.

But I’ve always had a fascination with people and their various talents. The medical field is amazing to me. Doctors and nurses are smart, and I’m thankful they do what they do.

I look at buildings being built, and I sometimes think to myself: “Where do you even begin?” Engineers and architects are smart.

I know people who have started their own business, and they’re good at it. I don’t have the capacity to even know where to begin. Entrepreneurs are smart.

Even watching a crew pave a road, that’s amazing to me. Seriously, where do you even begin? Site plans, surveys, bid processes. Sitting in some recent Brandon Planning & Zoning meetings has really opened my eyes to all the details and how smart these folks are when they plan these things out.

Watching the roadwork being done in Brandon at Exit 406 on Interstate 90 was another jaw dropper for me. Every time I’d go in-and-out of Brandon, I marveled at the construction and engineering that went behind it. 

I was at one of my favorite coffee shops the other day, writing a story for the Journal. It was a basketball game story, something I’ve literally done hundreds – maybe thousands – of times over the last 35 years.  

A young woman was sitting next to me. I glanced at the book she had open in front of her. Clearly, she was a student, studying something that looked incredibly foreign to me.

“I don’t know what that is,” I said to her as I glanced down at her book. “But you’re clearly smarter than me.”

She smiled, and looked away.

I pressed anyway, like I do.

“So seriously, what is it,” I said as I looked at a page full of circles, lines, parentheses, italicized x’s, things that would make Isaac Newton feel right at home.

“AP Calculus,” she said.

Wait, AP? She was a high school student?

“You’re in high school,” I asked inquisitively, assuming for sure she was at USF or Augustana.

Again, a smile, a nod.

I have to assume she was a Brandon Valley student. Again, people are so smart.

“Planning on building a rocket, flying it to Mars,” I asked.

“Actually, I don’t know why I’m even taking it,” she said, finally. “I want to be an interior designer.”

Interesting.

I never wanted to build a rocket ship, fly to Mars, or be an interior designer. And I certainly don’t remember taking a Calculus course in high school, or college for that matter. If I did, and passed it, that might be the biggest accomplishment of my career. But, I think I would have remembered it.

“Well, I think it’s good you’re taking it,” I said. “They’re making you think, and that can’t be bad for someone your age, just beginning your journey.”

That was probably lost on her, but it’s true.

I’ve said the same thing to my daughter countless times during her time in high school, and now at Augustana. She’s probably right – as was the young woman at the coffee shop – she probably won’t need a good chunk of what she’s learning right now that will translate to her eventual career.

But, they’re making her think.

I suppose that happened to me, too, when I was at USF. Although I’m confident I didn’t take Calculus, I do remember sitting in some math and science courses in the late 1980’s. It made me think.

And, to my daughter’s defense, and the young woman at the coffee shop, I probably didn’t need those skills to write about sports.

But then again, I know Liv Padgett is averaging 25.7 points per game heading into this weekend’s state tournament. Did that math all by myself.

Lookie there, me being all smart and stuff.