Marian Strobel - Furman Mentors


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MARIAN STROBEL

    This is to be a short story about a person whom I look to as “an object of extreme admiration and devotion,” as Mr. Webster succinctly described a hero. She was my freshman advisor, my professor, my friend—and my champion, as it turned out.
    
    I first met Marian Strobel in September of 1988, as a new freshman. She scared the daylights out of me when she declared that this was not high school, that any infractions in class would be grounds for simply being “thrown out” with a failing grade.
    
    As a not-so-serious high school student, this both scared me and gave me a sense of security, knowing that I had arrived in what was to be a serious academic environment. I was, you see, someone who fancied himself as valuing such an environment.
    
    Most of the time, I did. But when it came to taking Personal Finance my senior year in order to give my GPA a boost, I decided that some of my values needed a little siesta.
    
    Personal Finance was taught by a no-nonsense professor. He gave three exams, which usually occurred on Thursday. He also did not schedule classes on Wednesdays.
    
    But one week, that routine was reversed. It was time for the second of three exams, and he listed on the syllabus that on this week, the test would take place on Wednesday, and our free day would be Thursday. I did not bother to read the syllabus, and I decided to skip Monday’s class, then Tuesday’s, and then enjoy my “day off” on Wednesday. So I slept through my exam, having skipped the very day it was scheduled.
    
    This was not good. The professor offered the following options: either take a make-up exam that would be so difficult, passing would be a Godsend, or just take the zero like a man. Then, to add insult to injury, I was told I would have to wait until the next day to find out what my fate would be.
    
    That night, after grave deliberation with my God and my conscience, I called Dr. Strobel—at home. I told her my situation, and she just laughed. She said the professor was trying to scare me straight. Well, it was working, was my reply. She said she would speak to him on my behalf.
    
    When I saw him the next day, he said, “Dr. Strobel thinks highly of you.” He then told me he would drop my zero, but I would not be able to get anything higher than a B in his class. This was welcome news, and I thanked him profusely.
    
    That was 20 years ago, now, and I have never forgotten Dr. Strobel’s act of kindness when I least deserved it. She is truly a class act, and I will forever be her friend.

   — JOHN D. WILSEY ’92