Roxy Hammond

Everyone needs a little direction sometimes.

We all stumble into our freshman year thinking we know what’s up; with our sweet dorm furniture and a newly found sense of independence with no curfew.

Then we hit the ground running and realize that maybe we aren’t experts on the world, and we have no idea how to pursue our dreams. We stumble along aimlessly, hoping to God the choices we make today will benefit us in the future.

This is why everybody needs a mentor. Someone older and hopefully wiser, who can sit us down and listen to us, and then gently push us in the right direction.

For me, that person is my adviser, Jim Paulson.

Now, every college student is given an adviser to make sure they take the right classes and fulfill those stupid BOR requirements. Yet, Jim always went above and beyond his normal adviser position for me and many other broadcast majors.

Over the last five years, I’ve taken several classes with Jim (as he lets us call him), and as many broadcast majors would agree-he’s an immeasurable asset to the program.

But besides being an awesome teacher, he’s also a professor that will take the time to make sure his students are staying afloat in the other areas of their lives.

I knew at any given time I could wander into his office and whine about the trials and tribulations of my life. He would lean back in his chair, smile and shake his head in such a way that told me my life wasn’t so bad, and I was going to make it just fine.

He found a fatherly way of both calming my nerves and booting me in the rear to tackle my problems.

And when I would get a wild idea about my future plans, or needed some insight about an impending choice, he would listen intently and then help me weigh the pros and cons so I could make my own decision, but not completely uninformed.

Now, Jim’s probably reading this with a slightly-amused smile on his face and thinking that I’m over-dramatizing his impact.

I’m not.

I’m not the type to be overly cheesy, and I’m generally pretty cynical; but I know when someone has left an impression on my life and deserves to be recognized for that.

The role Jim has filled in my college career is integral in any college student’s life. I didn’t realize the impact it had until I started talking to other students that didn’t have the guidance I had. They would say things like “Wow, it would have been nice if someone had told me that.” So many of them missed opportunities because they didn’t have someone to let them in on secrets that could help later on in life.

And for that, I am endlessly grateful.

I’m finished with my journalism classes now, and I haven’t had a class in Yeager Hall since Spring semester ? but every so often I wander in to chat with Jim, and regain some of my sanity about my future.

So, here’s to the professor that let me call him Jimbo on occasion, and understood that it was my twisted way of respecting him. And who only laughed at me when I dropped the F-bomb in class after a long, long day.

But most importantly, to the professor who let me have someone to look to for guidance and gave me that much needed foundation on which to build my college career. I wish all students could be so lucky.

Thanks, Jim.

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