Michael Steele "partied his butt off" at Hopkins
Michael S. Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee and former lieutenant governor of Maryland, resurrects a sometimes overlooked part of his biography for a speech to students at Woodson Senior High School in Washington — that he got kicked out of Johns Hopkins University after partying too hard his freshman year.
“My first year at Johns Hopkins, I had a good time. I really did,” Steele said during a talk taped by C-SPAN for its "Students & Leaders" program. “I partied my behind off. I heard there were classes, and some people told me I really should go, but I was having a good time. I was freshman class president. I knew most of my classmates by the end of my first week of school. I just networked the heck out of that bad boy. I was talking. I was grooving. I was having a ball.”
Then, he said, he got a letter that summer informing him that he had been kicked out. After some angst, he said he cut a deal and had to earn straight A’s in four summer classes to regain his place at the prestigious school. He credits his mother for being a quiet force pushing him to return.
“Moral of the story: perseverance,” Steele explained. “And recognizing you have the potential within yourself to achieve whatever it is you want to achieve, sometimes you just got to push yourself to realize it.”
The program featuring Steele will be shown in its entirety on C-SPAN on Monday, May 25, at 7p.m.
-- Laura Smitherman
Comments
Maybe his Mom can get him to finish the death penalty study.
Posted by: Tom Finnegan | May 22, 2009 8:48 AM
We already know Steele is lazy. Tell us something new.
Posted by: Chum | May 22, 2009 11:25 AM
If I recall correctly, Johns Hopkins Magazine has done at least one article on Michael Steele where he discusses this topic. If it's been "overlooked," it's because no one was looking beyond TV or the Internet.
Posted by: Jay | May 22, 2009 2:42 PM
OH NO. He partied in college!!!!
How terrible!
Posted by: Fed Up | May 22, 2009 3:10 PM
Wow, Tom and Chum prove that political hatred still exists in the modern world. Steele was clearly trying to explain to a classful of teenagers that the right answers aren't always the easy answers and through a careful illustration of his own mistakes. It is a strategy akin to what many of us parents try too. But, oh no, when there is politics involved, people must make it into some sort of battle royale of one-upmanship; sad and pathetic.
Posted by: Johnathan Waters | May 24, 2009 11:28 PM