Becoming insanely great can be viewed as an experience of transcending mediocrity

characterized by disengagement, reflection, and reconstruction. To transcend means to

free oneself from one's own limitations, from a system of values which encourages a level

of mediocrity.

It entails seriously facing head on the questions what am I capable of? What prevents me

from reaching my potential? How can I overcome these limitations? Transcendence is to

relate to existence in terms of the possible as well as the actual. It means to surpass in

terms of being able to do more than one could do, or more than one has done in the past.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE MEDIOCRE?

of only moderate excellence, average, middling, medium, ordinary,

indifferent, neither good not bad, commonplace, run-of-the mill,

second rate, tolerable, so-so, passable, admissible,

undistinguished, modest, inferior, rather poor, unimportant,

common, paltry, petty, inconsequential, trifling, limited, lesser

meager, picayune, negligible, and /or triviality.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE TRANSCENDENT?

going beyond ordinary limits, extraordinary, unparalleled,

unrivaled, a passion for excellence, very superior, supereminent,

supreme, consummate, peerless, preeminent, unequaled,

matchless, foremost, dominant, second to none, to overstrip, go

beyond, exceed, excel, eclipse, outdistance, outrival, outstrip,

outvie, outdo, outrun, throw into the shade, to take precedence,

and/or to take the cake.

"Becoming "insanely great" is like climbing a mountain. From each

new height a new viewpoint; more comprehensive , from a different

angle, of a fresh clarity. At times one new standpoint on the

mountain seem continuous with others. At other times whole

patterns seem rearranged, a sort of quantum leap." (Michael Novak,

Ascent of the Mountain: Flight of the Dove).

Yes I want to be a "lean, mean, academic machine". Yes, I want to

get up everyday with only one all-consuming passion-EXCELLENCE.

Yes, when I leave the hallowed halls after my final final exam, I

want my last conscious thoughts to be "duty, honor, university."

Yes, I want to be one of the long line of University of Illinois,

Illinois State, Illinois Wesleyan, and Bradley University

undergraduates who have climbed the mountain, who have transcended

mediocrity, and who have done "insanely great" work in a Kasch communication class.