Classroom Achievements - Raising the Bar, or at least Lifting it Momentarily

Discussion Wednesday, as popular now as spearmint flavored dental floss. (Come to think of it, that may be an exaggeration.)

So far we've looked at big-time campus wins, campus traditions and favorite Athens eateries. And by the way, there's a Rita's across the street from the condo here in Hilton Head. As Hale suggested, definitely worth the trip....no, not all the way to HHI for a water ice. I meant to a Rita's near you.

We had cousin Matt over for dinner tonight and he reminded me of a (notice - singular) time I rose above the bar in the classroom while on campus. Matt definitely gots the more smarts in the family. After all, Bernie was not invited to apply to become a Rhodes Scholar. 

But there was this one time I was the only (again - singular), the ONLY student to show up for class.

It was spring of my third year and I was well on my way to becoming a sophomore. I was taking Spanish and had about 25 other classmates. The class was a MWF 2:20 appointment and I was doing pretty well, or as they say in MehHeeKo - b w a y - N o h.

I had stayed late at Tate to wrap up a pool game, but was still ahead of schedule getting up the hill. And when I walked into our classroom - it was empty. I stood in the doorway for a moment and racked my brain for a reason, then cursed myself as I walked away for forgetting a major detail like the professor (or as they say in Spain, p r o -F e s - s o r e) canceling class on a Friday.

I got halfway down the stairs and for some reason decided to go back - perhaps feeling as if I had entered the wrong classroom. This time as I stood bewildered in the doorway, our professor walked in moments behind me.

Crapnockers! Now I had no way out. The entire class was at some park playing frisbee and sunbathing, no doubt laughing their arses off at me - the only sucker dumb enough to show up on nearly a sophomore skip day, stuck here with Profesor Jaime.

Then it happened. He asked me if I had any questions in kind of an impromptu while we're here and today's lesson is shot I might as well help the one dumbass that showed up way. I paused and suddenly saw my only chance at scoring an A in the class.

Of course I said. Then I made my best attempt at coming up with a question, left him with a very passable look of appreciation and was starting my weekend by 3:02pm.

Oh yeh...and I got an A. Or as they say on Buford Hwy: 

e g g s  -  s a y  - L e n  - t a h!

A dramatic representation of Bernie's Spanish class one Friday

So what's your classroom highlight reader? What class presentation did you ace, what group project did you dazzle and amaze with, ...or were you one of my espanol classmates who played frisbee that day?