'Write a resume as a Marvel character,' assignment said. 'I am Groot' earned an A

Jeffrey Davis teaches engineering, robotics and automation. He should have seen this coming.

After the recent release of the blockbuster Marvel superhero movie Avengers Infinity War, Davis added a super-powered twist to what could otherwise be perceived as a pretty boring assignment.

He told his students at the Wichita Falls (Texas) Career Education Center to assume the persona of any Marvel Comics character, and to write a resume and cover letter, fundamental skills in the years to come for those students, from the character's perspective, using the character's voice.

One student chose Groot, who, of course, has become a pop culture phenomenon by repeating the line "I am Groot" throughout Marvel's two Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

It turns out Groot isn't as captivating on paper, even though the student captured the extra-terrestrial tree-creature's tone perfectly. He wrote 'I am Groot' in every section of the resume, and filled the one-page cover letter with the short sentence typed over and over.

Clever, sure. But it put the spirit of the assignment to the test. Davis could have penalized the student for not listing any real skills, education or experience on the resume portion of the assignment or any semblance of a narrative in the cover letter.

But the idea behind giving this student a 95 and a 100 on the two assignments was that "you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take," a quote from hockey great Wayne Gretzky that Davis tweeted in defense of the student's submission.

"I try to make my class somewhere students want to be, not something they dread," Davis wrote in a submission to Love What Matters after the moment went viral.

By the way, the 5 points Davis deducted on the student's resume assignment? "He had points taken off for capitalization and inconsistency on his name ‘Groot.’ He left out ‘I am’" at the top of one of the assignments, Davis wrote.

If nothing else, this student gets an A-plus for trolling.

This story was originally published May 11, 2018 at 1:45 PM with the headline "'Write a resume as a Marvel character,' assignment said. 'I am Groot' earned an A."