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Last first day of classes. I waltz into the Comm school excited to finally take a class in this beautiful building and watch the confusion on my friends’ faces in response to my presence, since they know I am American Studies and Drama (probably the farthest thing from Comm School).
Finally I get to be in a fancy academic building since the past three years I have been relegated to the ugly and outdated classrooms of Cabell, or this past semester in the ceiling-less and construction filled Drama building. I finally find the correct room for this 18 person class I am trying to get in to, only to find herds of students lined up against the wall because there are no seats left. Of course I pick the class 60 people try to get into. The class is Advanced Public Business Speaking and as it is our last semester practically every fourth year I know is trying to get into this class.
Our professor walks in and is immediately shocked and overjoyed we are all trying to get in. She stresses to us that she cannot let all of us in, but that Comm school students do get preference. She goes over the syllabus and gives us multiple opportunities to leave in case we don’t like what we are hearing. No one leaves the room.
Next she tells us that in order to determine who will get in the class that we are to fill out a questionnaire of sorts and then we will participate in improv exercises. To get things started we are to go around the room and meet people, while rating their handshakes on a scale of 1-5. Everyone puts their game face on, but still politely giving everyone a safe rating of a 3-3.5. Everyone I meet has a great handshake, magnificent eye contact, warm smile, and cool facts such as, “My short essay is published in Chicken Soup for the Soul” or “I dewormed orphans in Somalia while starting my own charity”. Clearly everyone is qualified and looks the part. Typical UVA.
Next is the improv game where we divide into groups and pick superheroes/TV characters. We get up in front of the rest of the class and are given a crisis such as world hunger or the falling of a cliff. The task? We must use our characters to find a solution while performing in character. Everyone comes up with witty and bold choices, making this elimination thing even harder. I sit back and take a deep breath, telling myself that as an actor I should have no worries about making it into this class. After improving for an entire semester while on a safari in Africa, where my “Slothy McVia” persona was born as I improv narrated what the baboons and rhinos were really doing, I knew I would nail this exercise.
My group gets up to go and we all jump around the front of the room trying to be as bold and memorable as possible for the camera so we can get into this class. We do our thing and then continue to watch every other group nail it as well. I leave the class feeling optimistic, but extremely dubious about actually getting a slot.
And then it hit me. Today in class was just like the real world. At UVA we are surrounded by the best of the best. We were all top of our class in high school, varsity athletes, president of Student Council, over involved in anything and everything. We are used to succeeding, and so competing with each other for a slot in a public speaking is just part of our competitive nature. But here we are, fourth years about to venture out into the real world, and we are given a nice glimpse of what our future holds. Except this time instead of interviewing and not knowing who else we are up against, we get to watch everyone else succeed with flying colors around us and prove to the professor we are all super qualified and will do whatever it takes to get what we want.
As an actor I know I am about to head into an extremely competitive work environment where day after day I will hear a million No’s, until finally I hear the one yes that will change my career and get me where I need to be. The best advice I have ever received came from one of my teachers this summer who said that the best thing you can do is simply walk into the room and just get the damn job. He told me, “You just have to know that you will get hired, because there is a certain chutzpah about you that no one else has but you. Once you believe in your chutzpah people will be falling over to hire you”. Whether it’s trying to get into Public Speaking or land that big job, I know that we will all be able to bring that spark and do it big. Just think, in only four months we are all gonna be out in the real world winning them all over with our chutzpah. Eu freaking reka.