And now with the door to the real world wide open, I’m hesitant to step through it.

I’m not scared about the future out there; far from it. I’m simply too excited about the future of Rensselaer, and particularly RPI men’s hockey that I don’t want to leave.

This program and this campus are primed to explode, and it was clearly visible as Seth Appert, a 31-year-old hockey enthusiast from the University of Denver, was introduced as Rensselaer’s 12th head coach Friday night.

Just sitting and talking to Appert was enough to make me ready to stay another four years. He’s motivated me to put on some skates, take to the ice, and play some hockey even if I cannot even handle a puck, take a slap shot, or simply stand up on the ice.

He’s that type of motivator, one that can get a Texan who fears the cold, to embrace sports on ice. I can only imagine the excitement stirring in the Engineers’ locker room.

Hopefully the Appert hire will reinvigorate the RPI community. After talking to other writers, media relations directors, coaches, and former players over the course of my tenure as sports editor at The Polytechnic, one thing is clear: Opponents used to fear the Houston Field House the way Maryland basketball adversaries fear the turtle.

Visitors’ knees would knock out of serves, or simply because the noise shook the building. Either way we intimated our foes and motivated our squad.

But those days have sadly passed. Today a capacity crowd only comes together once, maybe twice a year—depending when Clarkson visits the field house and the promotional availability of a free t-shirt. That fear, that buzz that once swirled around the rink, has been replaced instead by inconsistent play and lackadaisical support from the Rensselaer community.

The Rensselaer student body has failed to support and embrace its student athletes, not just its hockey team, and that is a sickening statement to write and to swallow.

But the truth can hurt, just like a slap shot to the ankle.

Every Rensselaer student can learn from his peers, but we fail to learn from the most driven and inspired individuals on campus, and instead we ignore them. The athletes on campus commit themselves to a sport, to a team, to a goal, to our school, and we repay them with only ridicule and neglect.

We distance ourselves from them and then angrily complain that they don’t care about us. We stereotype them. We use their skill in the athletic realm to attempt to limit them in the classroom, but yet they still outperform us.

The collective set of student-athletes have posted both a higher grade-point-average and graduation rate than the general student body the last three years and that trend shows no signs of slowing. Still, people complain they have it too easy.

Maybe they do—if you consider 16 to 20 hours of classes, times two hours for the homework, plus several hours of practice and weight training. But hey, that’s cake.

This scenario is reversible, however. I’ve covered sports for three years at this school and have had the privilege of meeting these athletes and their coaches, a privilege I have cherished and will always remember. They are all great people with a passion that we can all learn from, if only we would give them the chance. Four years later, I hope to come back and see a packed Field House and rabid fans. But Appert can’t do it alone. We, or rather, you, the remaining students, will have to meet halfway, with arms wide open.