The Alarm Clock

My dad went to Rose-Hulman Institute Technology in Indiana and majored in Chemical Engineering for his undergraduate study. The incident took place during his junior year in college. It caused him to flunk one of his final exams and ruined his Grade Point Average (GPA) for that quarter. Most importantly, it taught him a life lesson he will never forget.

Known for maintaining high academic standards, over half of the freshman class wouldn’t make it through their sophomore year at Rose-Hulman. Starting his junior year, dad noticed that the remaining students were getting really serious about their studies. Some even broke the long running tradition of skipping homework on Friday evenings and hit the library instead.

The Winter Quarter started right after Thanksgiving. Throughout the quarter, dad studied hard and maintained a B+ average for his Material Balance class before the final exam. Students had nicknamed this class “Meat Balls”. The final weighted 60% of the entire grade. Rose’s final exams were grueling. Four hours long and open book—if a student hadn’t grasped the key concepts already, no books would help. Dad was confident that he had studied the subjects well and was ready for the exam.

The day before the final, he woke up early and went to the library. It would be great to get a quiet room, he thought to himself. Upon arriving, he saw some students were already waiting outside for the librarian to unlock the door. The door opened once the campus bell struck 8AM. Quickly climbing to the second floor, he found his favorite quiet room next to the vending machine was still available. A great way to start the day! Throughout the morning, he went through the class notes. Occasionally, he rushed down the hallway to get some air. He saw a few of his classmates, they nodded to each other without words. For lunch, he grabbed a couple of Twinkies and a can of Mountain Dew from the vending machine. Late afternoon, he finished all the study materials. He let out a long yawn, I will be done this time tomorrow.

The Material Balance final was set at 8AM the next morning. He decided to go to bed early that night. He set the alarm to 7am, so he could wake up, shower, grab breakfast and get ready for the final. Somehow, he had trouble falling asleep. Maybe because this was his last exam for the winter quarter. He imagined taking a road trip to somewhere warm with his beat-up Honda or perhaps hit Chicago Chinatown and devour some real food. He was sick and tired of the campus cafeteria’s food--everything tastes like ketchup. He was ready for a real winter break.

A loud thud woke him up. There goes Mike from upstairs. Half asleep, dad took a look at the alarm, it read 8:08AM. What?! He started to panic! He was late for the exam! What happened to the alarm clock?!

He jumped off the bed and dressed as quickly as possible. He glanced around and tried to see if his roommate Scott was around. Scott was gone. “God, I couldn’t believe this!” He thought to himself. He grabbed his backpack and rushed out of the dorm.

It snowed on and off for the past couple of days, some part of the ground was icy and slippery. “Whatever happens, don’t trip and fall, I have to make it to the classroom!” That was the only thing he could think about. His heart pounded fast as the cold breeze hit his face. He can see his own breath under the ghostly lit streetlights.

After what seems like an eternity, he arrived at the classroom at 8:20am. Slowly, he turned the doorknob and entered. Dr. Caskey took a gaze at him, handed over the exam and signaled him to sit at the back. In contrast to the freezing air outside, the heat inside made him dizzy.

He took off his jacket and put down his backpack. “Take a deep breath and focus, it will be ok. I still have 3 and half hours left.” he tried to calm himself. After thumbing through the exam questions from front to back as he had always done, nothing made any sense. He felt as if there were thousands of ants crawling all over him. Everyone else was busy working and no one noticed the sweat streaming down from his forehead.

He looked up at the big clock above the blackboard. It read 8:45, “No good.” He sat silently, “Let me look through my notes, I just need to clear my mind…” It helped very little.

10:30 AM. He barely finished 50% of the questions. “I’ll have to aim for partial credit now,” he muttered. “That no good alarm clock!” His stomach was growling, and he felt a pounding headache.

Thirty minutes later, he stood up and handed the exam to his professor. The professor smiled and whispered, “too easy?” Speechless, his face turned red and dashed off.

He met Scott at lunch. “Dude, how was the final?” Scott asked.

“It was a huge mess. I was late and my brain was totally fried” dad replied. “Hey, did my alarm go off this morning?”

Scott shrugged, “I didn’t hear anything, I would wake you, but I left around 7:15 and thought you were going to get up at 7:30.” “Any plan for the break?” Scott continued.

“Yeah, smash that stupid alarm clock and bang my head against the wall!” dad shouted.

The lunch for that day was spaghetti and meatballs and it tasted like ketchup.

Dad’s host parents invited him to stay at their place for the winter break. About a week later, he received a copy of his report card in the mail. He dreadfully opened the envelope. His grade for the final exam was a D-. Overall grade for the entire quarter was a D.

“You still have an hour left, why did you turn in your exam?”. I asked him when I first heard the story.

“Yeah, but my mind was blank and all I could think about was what happened to the alarm clock?” He replied. “It would do no good to sit there for another hour.”

“Did you have a sad winter break?” I asked.

“Oh, for a few days.” Dad replied with a smile. “Then I talked to Mark and Vi (his host parents) about it, we had a good laugh. I retook the class that summer and earned a B+, it turned out just fine.”

Dad took a sip of his tea, “I learned that you need to expect the unexpected and take it from there. Life is not a straight line. We all have to take some detours now and then.”

“Like Jack and Annie from Magic Tree House?” I beamed.

“Right, life is an adventure!” Dad nodded, “your grandparents were expecting me to attend medical school after college, but I decided to get a job instead. Not as planned, but it turned out pretty well.”

“Get a job and buy a new alarm clock?” I giggled.

“There was nothing wrong with the alarm clock,” dad burst out a good laugh, “it worked well for many years.”

“Why didn’t it go off then?” I was really curious.
Dad paused for a couple of seconds. “It was set to 7PM”.