Great Expectations

By Chaunte’l Powell

Friday morning I was up early. As I continued to rub the sleep from my eyes, I ran through my mental checklist of things I had packed. I then realized my phone charger was still plugged in the wall and we were too far away to turn back. My 11-week trip seemed to be off to a smashing start.
Lesson number one of the day: do as much as you can in advance.
While this is a repeat lesson, it is still one I’ve yet to master.
The plane ride went amazingly, especially when I was bumped up to first class. As I sat in my cushy seat, I overheard two gentlemen discussing the NBA Finals. I didn’t hear much of the conversation because I immediately fell asleep.
I was awakened by a voice on the intercom stating we were landing. The two gentlemen were still discussing sports and through careful eavesdropping while on my way to baggage claim, I realized there were in the media industry. I had fallen asleep on the job so to speak, and had possibly missed an opportunity to network.
Lesson number two of the day: be alert and ready to seize every opportunity.
That night, after everyone had checked into rooms and had dinner, we were given our first sports check. My paper was a mixture of guesses and blanks. What was most frustrating was I thought I was prepared. I just couldn’t remember the specific part of the story I was now being quizzed on. Lesson number three of the day: pay attention to details, all of them.
These are just the three main items I’ve learned in my first 24 hours of SJI bootcamp. The scary/exciting part is, we’ve only scratched the surface.