...Is a phrase often muttered in one form or another by young and old North American's alike. Procrastination. A pure, simple art form that has taken hundreds of years to perfect. A trade, if you will, that comes to us like a birds instinct to fly south for the winter. A pristine and undernurished attitude that helps lower cholestoral, patches up the hold in the ozone layer, and increase funding for SDI. It is a law of nature that allows humans to take charge of their tasks and make good on a "I work well under pressure" lifestyle.

And what segment of the populous likes to preach the values of anti-procrastination? Educators. They constantly allot greater time periods to class projects so students may use their time "wisely" so as not to "wait 'til the last minute." I would theorize an inverse relationship between that time and the time spent the weekend before the due date — the longer the assigned time for the project, the closer to the due date it's completed and the better the grade received.

Why don't educators use procrastination to the advantage of education everywhere? If they know students are going to take one weekend to complete a semester project, why not just assign the project for that weekend? That way, students could have a giant project every week that would thus increase the learning curve and enhance our standings when compared to other countries. Of course, there would first have to be a kind of coming of age for educators when dealing with procrastination. They would have to first be able to fathom that students don't drop their lives (and other classes) for one class in which a project may be due. Once we get this network of educational understanding going, professors will begin to see the clearer picture and realize that, hey, there is a universe outside of their class or department!

I'm sure I speak for most students when I say, "GET REAL!" This has been going on all my life without a change. I write this mostly because I was enraged with an idea that came up during a recently hydrology project. I thought of how much group projects in early college and high school stunk. Teachers expect every group member's schedule to line up in such a way that meetings may be made constantly and without conflict. In college (the first couple years anyway) this just doesn't happen. I alone am involved in 3 musical ensembles, work for media services, try to maintain a geosciences major all while attempting to live a decent, comfortable, and somewhat relaxed social life. Then you get a educationally tunnel-visioned professor assigning a project on which they expect heaps of research and organization. My argument is that that only works in the professional world. "You'll be expected to work in teams in the 'Real World' and this'll be good practice for that," they'll say. In the professional world group projects can be successfully carried out because 1) you're generally in the same if not similar profession as your group members making your schedules compatible and free of other conflicts and 2) you're getting paid!

Overall, they won't stop and these conflicts will bring about procrastination to the finest degree. So what do we do about it all? I dunno, I'll work on the answer later.

That's the decision my friends and family are going to have to make when thinking about me this summer. It's official: I'll be studying planetary geology and astronomy at Valdosta State University in southern Georgia this summer. I applied for this opportunity through a program to promote undergraduate research funded by the National Science Foudation. I was contacted the night of the 12th by a Dr. Leake who said she was very interested in me becoming her student through this program. We have since corresponded and made the plans official.

I'll be working one-on-one with Dr. Leake aiding in her research and coming up with projects of my own. There will be an emphesis placed on planetary geology and photogeology, astronomy, and computer systems. Dr. Leake mentioned to me that they have some new equipment that they've wanted to use and that I may be great to help get that up and running.

All in all, the experience promises to be a spectacular one. Not only for the research and science involved but for the memories and new perspectives I'll walk away with. During the course of the [assuredly hot and humid] summer, I plan to drive to Florida and observe some of the restoration of the Kissimmee River and to see a July 9th launch of the Space Shuttle. I'll also attend meetings and travel to Arizona's Kitt Peak Observatory!

This could be an opportunity that will ignite the fire of my dream to become a mission specialist for NASA. I have a dream...

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