I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. And, as the man across from me continued talking, I became incensed. I was 21 years old, about to graduate college with a degree in print journalism. I wanted to apply for a prestigious fellowship with one of the biggest newspapers in the country - The Arizona Republic. “You have to realize,” the Dean of our Journalism department told me, “this fellowship goes to kids from Harvard, Stanford, USC … not kids from here. Don’t waste your time applying.” I was at the University of St. Thomas, a small school based in St. Paul, Minnesota. As he prattled on, telling me all the reasons why I couldn’t or wouldn’t have a shot to win that fellowship, I decided to prove him wrong. I walked out of his office, put together my application without his help and mailed it in. And, sure enough, the kids who received that prestigious fellowship in 1997 were from Harvard, Stanford, USC … and the University of St. Thomas. When I showed up in Phoenix that summer, my classmates thought I would…