Spending an afternoon with Ryan....

The other day I was working out in the gym, and had on my “Duke” ware, i.e. one of my many Duke Basketball T-Shirts. (If the truth be know, and if I could be re-incarnated as a shooting guard for the Duke University Basketball team…my life would truly be complete!)

A man walked up to me and asked if I had gone to Duke! I was quick to answer that I had, that it had been one of the true turning points of my life. He then went on to tell me that his only child, his daughter Ryan had applied to Duke. I told him that she would love it there, and he said that first of all she needed to get in.

I told him that for 13 years I had interviewed young people as part of the alumni interview program that Duke runs. I told him that she would have an interview and as one of my friends once said the interview would have “the weight of a feather!”

The goal of the interview being that when a young person that applies to Duke, that an alum would meet with then and in the course of that conversation seek to put some bones and flesh on all those papers and tests that kids are made to complete and submit.

So, a date was made, and at 4 today I showed up at a local Starbucks to meet Ryan!

Ryan was a darling young woman. Bright, smart, funny and wonderful! We talked for about an hour and a half! We talked about all kinds of things, and I asked her hard questions, she gave me great answers and I gave her my very best suggestions!

At the end of our talk, I knew she was ready for the interview to come.

Whenever I think about the future of America, I know it will be OK because of Ryan and the other wonderful young people like her that I have met in my Odyssey.

I told her that I expected to see her next winter on ESPN cheering for the boys in blue!

Go Ryan! and Go Duke!

 

Comments

[Paul Andrews]

Hey Buzz, my across the street neighbors, Parker & Lora Mason, are Duke grads as well! They're just like you, smart, good-looking, athletic and, how can I put this, verbal! Anyway the way they describe it there's a pretty active alumni group in Seattle, perhaps you already know...