On the Value of Joining Student Clubs
Glen Gustafson, PhD.
JMU Professor Emeritus
Santa Catalina Island, CA
Clubs should encourage student participation. After being on the Faculty at JMU for 27 years, let me tell you a short war story that may put membership in student clubs in perspective.
In 1983 I was a young Assistant Professor at JMU, trying to get some consulting work started in D.C. My field is Remote Sensing for environment and for military intelligence (we could sure use some of THAT these days, couldn't we!). Anyway, I was making my first proposal presentation to an Intelligence-related industry in D.C. I had done NO consulting work so far, and was very nervous. I entered the boardroom where I was to explain my ideas. I set my briefcase down, got out my notes, and looked around the table at my listeners. THERE was a very familiar face, but one I had not seen in twenty years. He looked at me, and I looked at him, and we both started laughing, almost uncontrollably! The tension in the room was suddenly broken and I was part of the group!
That person was my former Air Force supervisor when I was an Image Analyst working in a security vault so secret that it had no name; we were simply "Section X" of the "Intelligence, Air Targets Division". The good news is that I got the job, and consulted for the firm for seven years. The bad news is that by not making any effort to
stay in contact, I had missed out on TWENTY YEARS of assistance and friendship from one of the most respected Military Image Analysts in the United States!
YOU have the opportunity of avoiding that stupid mistake which I made. It starts TODAY, if you choose. PARTICIPATE in the various clubs available to you. Become a presence there; build friendships among your fellow Majors: these people will become your contacts later when you end up working. For example, Modern Geographic Science and its applications is a surprisingly narrow field. If you don't believe me, consider this: I have an inch-and-a half thick stack of business cards from recent JMU GS grads who are now in government and industry. In fact, the group in the DC Metro area is now working towards forming a "club" of its own.
When you are WORKING in any field, WHOM YOU KNOW is terribly important! If you meet a new, narrow, technical problem at your office, but you KNOW whom to call to solve it, you quickly build a reputation as a "Guru" (even though you didn't know ANY of the answers yourself!). Your CLASSMATES are the beginning of that network. Some of them will REALLY succeed. Will those guys be your friends? You are deciding that TODAY, and this week, and this month! Are you really THERE as a person and a PARTICPANT, or are you just drifting along from semester to semester?
Wishing you every success, ----Glen Gustafson