He doesn’t look impressive. His clothes are wrinkled, his hair needs to be cut and he doesn’t sit up straight. His mom is doing all of the talking. Perhaps she’s the one who actually wants to attend college. I ask him why he wants to study mass communications. His response: “I just really like to write.”
Eureka! The phrase is my favorite to hear from a student. It tells me more than anything else they could say. Instead of a jock or another Greek sweatshirt I see a kindred spirit I can mold into a professional journalist.
How students respond after speaking the phrase is an academic mystery. My colleagues and I have spoken for years about the phenomenon. Two nearly identical in opportunity and talent students respond in opposite ways to the academic environment. One student becomes a sponge. She can’t get enough information about mass media. She volunteers at every opportunity to put what she’s learned into practice. She attends workshops and conferences, applies for every scholarship available and seems thrilled to practically live in the department. The second student disappears. She doesn’t seem interested in using her talent and applies herself only enough to get passing grades.
The “fire in the belly” some students have is difficult to describe but easy to spot. There are some students you think should have it who don’t. There are others who surprise you when they reflect it. My colleagues and I have long debated whether “fire in the belly” can be learned or if it’s something ingrained in certain students.
Apparently we’re not alone in our curiosity about the trait. Terry Clark, professor at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, described “fire in the belly” as a passion.
“When I write a reference letter for a student, or when some newspaper editor calls about a reference for a student seeking a job, the highest praise I can give is to say the student has ‘the fire in the belly.’ That phrase will almost guarantee employment, no matter the grades on the transcript. Why? All older, experienced journalists have it or they would no longer be journalists. When I hear the phrase, I always think of people like John Greiner or Mick Hinton, Carter Bradley or Ralph Sewell. You have to love reporting and writing to do it, or you won’t last long as a journalist in a world of long hours and meager pay,” Clark wrote.
Clark is spot on. Like Justice Potter Stewart said in his famous obscenity opinion, fire in the belly is difficult to define but a professor “knows it when they see it.” Professors and students are drawn to those charismatic leaders who have it.
