So, I started showing up, asking questions, and learning. The award for "Single Most Life-Changing Lesson" goes to (drumroll please)...
Professional hacking is a thing. (See White Hat Hacking)
Runner up…
There's this pesky team at Carnegie Mellon University that keeps winning the darn competitions, and they're called Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP)
That year, I was flown to New York with CSG to compete in the CSAW CTF finals and watched PPP sweep the board, so they're celebrities to me (even now that I'm also a member of the team).
After graduating with my BS in CS, I took a detour as a systems administress, but continued to seek out security conferences.