The power of two words

It's been 31 years since we went to the awards banquet. Randy landed an internship at Channel 2 and I'd won a $1,000 scholarship from the Radio and TV News Directors Foundation. Randy says we had a short conversation after the meal and he asked, "How did you get the scholarship, Rich?" The two words he remembers me saying were "I applied."

I'd forgotten all about this, but Randy hasn't. He told me today that those two words helped change his life. He says he took them to heart and the next year applied for two scholarships and won them both. As a young married college student with two kids, he says he really needed the money.

And now he says this is one of those stories he tells his kids about little things that sometimes make a big difference. Two words spoken three decades ago. Who would have thought? I guess I'll have to tell my own kids about this one, too.

Randy Ripplinger is Director of Public Relations at the Granite School District in Salt Lake.

There's more to the story, of course, but for now less is more.