The Audio Story:
https://soundcloud.com/rachel-von-hollen/audio-story-the-truth-behind-failure-rachel-von-hollen

Introduction:
I interviewed Luke Eltringham, an Engineering Major and Senior at Hartford University, in Connecticut. I met Luke Eltringham through a mutual friend, and he was visiting family in New Jersey this week, so I arranged an interview. I knew Luke had struggled in school, and he suggested that I focus on the comeback portion of failure, and what it means for your future. We spoke about the truth behind what failing classes entails, and what it means for your grade and overall outlook on college. There are a lot of misconceptions about what it can do to your college career and if it truly affects the four year plan. He wanted to help set the record straight and hopefully provide some insight on how to make such a situation work out in your favor.

What Was Said
The Truth Behind Failure
Rachel: It seems to be a widely known myth that if you fail a college course, you might as well just drop out. Credits are so difficult to collect and keep track of that most people seem to believe once you get a single F, the four year plan is dead. Yet, it turned out to be quite the opposite for Mr. Luke Eltringham, a senior at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. Why don’t you tell me a little bit about your experience with failure, and how it affects the expectations we hold about college.
Luke: Well, for me, failure seemed to be a dead end, at first. I had taken a math course and thought it would be an easy A. Of course, it didn’t turn out to be and by the end of the semester I was struggling to keep my math grade, and handful of others, at a D+. I don’t know how I let it get to that point, but once I was there everyone, including my advisors, were telling me that I’d have to add an extra year to my college plan.
Rachel: And was that something you were prepared to do?
Luke: Adding an extra year to my college plan was something I was strongly against, not that I don’t respect it. A million people take more than four years to finish their degrees, but personally, I was scared of taking an extra year. I thought I would get stuck in a cycle of just having to add one more year for some random class and so-and-so amount of credits. So when my advisors and teachers were all recommending it my only response was, “Well how do I avoid that?”
Rachel: And how did you end up avoiding a fifth year of college? Were you taking Summer courses to make up for failed classes?
Luke: Yes, Summer courses were a big bonus on helping me compile enough credits to graduate. But, if I’m honest, I failed way too many classes to be made up in a single summer. I actually decided to go to the Dean of my school and ask about taking more than four credits in a semester. It was really hard to convince him to allow it, considering that my course history was filled with me barely scraping by with C’s in a lot of important places. But, I just kept going back to him and spamming him with overly-polite emails until he got overwhelmed with me. So, he approved it and I got my extra courses.
Rachel: But, I’m curious, if you had a history of failing your courses and were clearly struggling, how is it that you managed to pass the extra courses and Summer classes that you filled your schedule with?
Luke: Oh, well that’s actually because I found motivation. In my first two years, as a Freshman and then a Sophomore I wasn’t really all that interested in college. I mean, yeah I was there and paying tuition… but only because that’s what everyone else was doing. I didn’t know any other option, I was just going with the flow. What changed it for me, was when I met my girlfriend in the beginning of Junior year. She’s actually a Special Education Major and I met her at the tutoring center, when one of my friends dragged me over there to see if they could help me boost my grades last-minute. She really motivated me get my head in the game, and set goals for myself. Plus, I really wanted to graduate with her, on time. So, I ended up becoming a regular at the tutoring center and spending all my free time with my head buried in books.
Rachel: That’s really sweet, and how did that affect your overall grades and GPA?
Luke: Well my GPA still wasn’t the greatest, I was hovering in the low 2’s, but I boosted my grades way up from what they had been in the first two years. I got B’s and C’s in the classes I had to retake and made sure to focus on school during the Summer rather than a job.
Rachel: So, has that been working? Did it bring you back from failing?
Luke: Yeah, honestly this time last year even my parents weren’t confident in me. No one thought I was going to be able to make it work, but I just crammed everything I needed into those two years. Essentially, I did four years worth of work in my last two years.
Rachel: Is there anything you wish people knew about the whole aspect of failing classes and what it entails for your college plan.
Luke: I really wish people would realize that it’s not a death sentence, it doesn’t mean that your life is over. Even my college advisors, the people who were supposed to support and guide me didn’t know how I was supposed to dig myself out of the hole I had created, but with a little extra dedication and motivation it all worked out. I learned that failure is really just an opportunity to try again, and get it right this time.