He came bolting through the Vaughn Center, a big smile on his face. He extended his hand.
‘Whats up, Charlie,’ I asked. I hadn’t seen Charlie since last spring, since he spent the last semester across the pond at Oxford.
‘I got into Harvard Law,’ he beamed.
There was really nothing more to say than just, ‘Wow.’
Seniors are scrambling to find post-graduation plans. Medical school, graduate school and actual jobs are at the forefront of everyone’s mind right now, but Charlie Connally’s next few years are set.
The future lawyer has traveled a long road at the University of Tampa, and an even longer road in life.
He was in the first class I ever walked into at UT. He was the quiet-yet-outspoken guy, the one who suffered through the loss of his father, who lived off campus, and who always had something to say.
The most interesting thing about him was that he knew everything about movies that was possible.
The shift manager at Hollywood Videos, Connally spent mornings, afternoons and nights at work. Sometime between all of that, he came to our Composition ‘amp; Rhetoric I class.
Over the rest of our academic careers, our classes rarely intertwined. We shared one more class, a one-time class with Dr. Anne Stockdell-Giesler. I think I learned more from that class than any other.
Connally succeeded (obviously) and went to Oxford. He sent me a few Facebook messages, asking to write for The Minaret.
(By the way, I’m still waiting for that, Charlie.)
The news that he had gotten into Harvard Law was a great joy for me.
The economy is in the tank, we aren’t supposed to travel to Mexico, my neighbor was just evicted and his house foreclosed on, but at least a bright spot can shine through — a man I met the first time I stepped into a UT classroom has achieved what is considered a pinnacle of undergraduate achievement.
Congrats, Charlie Connally.
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