SIX

ESSAYS AND ONE

UNFORGETTABLE SPEECH

BEING FEARLESS ISN’T LIVING WITHOUT FEAR. Everyone has fears, as mundane as losing your iPhone or gaining a few pounds and as serious as losing your job or dying. So maybe being fearless means acknowledging what scares you, then giving it a swift kick in the pants and marching past it. But fearlessness extends beyond courage, too. It can be in boldly defying convention or expectations—your boss’s, your mom’s, your friends’. IT CAN BE DARING AND ADVENTUROUS, STIRRING AND EVEN HEROIC. Amid the university’s new focus on “fearless ideas,” we asked notable Terps to write essays on how they are fearless. For Kevin Plank, it was ignoring the chorus of “can’t, can’t, can’t” when he was getting Under Armour off the ground. For “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” author Jeff Kinney, being fearless isn’t his years-long push to get published, but stepping into public life in his community. For women’s basketball head coach Brenda Frese, it’s leaving behind safety and success for a new challenge. All the essayists share this in common: They ignored the odds and the naysayers. They trusted their gut. They worked their tails off. They failed, then tried again. And they succeeded. MAYBE THEY CAN ALSO INSPIRE YOU TO BE FEARLESS, TOO.

SPRING 2013 TERP 19