\u201cIt’s 40 years later, and I’m officially a college grad!\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the joyous reaction of Peter Spall, former Farmingdale State College student – and now alumnus \u2013 to receiving his Associate in Recreational Leadership.<\/p>\n
Yes, it took longer than most \u2013 in fact, longer than just about anybody \u2013 for Peter to get his diploma. And no, in case you\u2019re wondering, Peter hasn\u2019t been taking courses all that time, trying to get over the hump. It was just one class that separated Spall from his dream. It was Fate\u2019s payback, it seemed, for Spall having dropped out of college for a job with the telephone company, back in 1981.<\/p>\n
The story began in 1979, when Spall and a friend enrolled at FSC after graduating their Staten Island high school. Spall wanted a degree in Physical Education, but the College \u2013 known then as Agricultural and Technical College at Farmingdale – didn\u2019t offer one. So, he hatched a plan to study Recreational Leadership, and then transfer to another SUNY campus for a BS in phys ed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always an above-average athlete, and thought the idea of being a phys ed major would fit me well,\u201d says Spall.\u00a0\u201cTeach phys ed, coach sports, and go to work every day in gym\u00a0shorts. Man, that would be the life. \u00a0At 17 I had the whole thing figured out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spall also figured out how to pay for school. As the first in his family to attend college, he was expected to pay his way to a degree, plus cover living expenses. He took it seriously, working summers, weekends, and spring breaks, as well as doing event security on campus.<\/p>\n
What Spall hadn\u2019t figured on was a conflict between earning a degree and earning a paycheck. In his second academic year, a required course was offered only on Saturdays. It was an agonizing choice, but Spall needed a steady income if he was to fulfill his dream of graduating college. So he concocted a Plan B \u2013 take his FSC credits and enroll in the physical education program at SUNY Brockport – even though he was only one course short of a Farmingdale diploma.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I might need\u00a0to do\u00a0an extra semester, but, already being\u00a0an RA, I planned I could be an RA at Brockport as well.\u00a0 I was now 19 and really had it all figured out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Figuring it out had become a habit with Spall \u2013 until it didn\u2019t work out. This time it wasn\u2019t money; it was love, with a young woman named Lynn, who is now Spall\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll was going well through that third year, until I came home for Christmas and fell in love.\u00a0 Hit me like a ton of bricks. At Brockport, I was eight hours from home, extremely homesick, and now missing my new love.\u00a0 I was tired of being broke and was seriously second guessing my feelings about college.\u201d<\/p>\n
The break with college came the following September, with a job offer from the telephone company. Spall figured his life had finally sorted itself out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could now work, make lots of money, not worry about how I was going to pay for college, and most of all, I could be with my sweetheart. I no longer was going to be poor.<\/p>\n
\u201cLynn really had no feelings about my degree one way or the other.\u00a0 She was the oldest of five, and had lost her dad the year before, and a younger\u00a0sister several years earlier.\u00a0 She was home helping her mom raise their family.\u00a0 She had a lot\u00a0going on in her life, and my college degree really wasn’t a factor.\u00a0 We were just hopelessly in love.\u201d<\/p>\n
So much so, that the Spalls have been married 37 years, and have three college-educated sons. But as much bliss as Spall was enjoying as a husband, father, and telephone company employee, something was continually gnawing at his soul.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had always said I would someday go back to school.\u00a0 New York Telephone, Bell Atlantic, NYNEX, and Verizon – all through my career they would have paid for me to go, but I never found the time.\u00a0 But I always regretted it. Always.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fast forward to 2018, two years after Spall retired. The couple bought a home in Florida, near a golf course. Lynn Spall had never played golf, so last Christmas Spall bought her lessons at the local community college. While registering her at the Bursar\u2019s Office, he spoke to an academic adviser about how he might get his long-lost degree.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe told me the first thing I needed to do was contact both my previously attended schools, for official copies of my transcripts.\u00a0I laughed and told her, \u2018I still have my originals.\u2019\u00a0I never threw them away. I always knew some day… So I started by calling Farmingdale.\u201d<\/p>\n
He reached Judi Cestaro, Director of Transfer Services, who told him about life credit – college\u00a0credit\u00a0based on knowledge learned through professional\u00a0experience. After the provost\u2019s office reviewed his transcript and resume, it was decided that Spall had indeed earned his degree.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeter was on a mission to fulfill his lifelong dream of earning his degree,\u201d says Cestaro. \u201cThere is nothing more important to me than helping people achieve their goals. I have dedicated my career to removing roadblocks to student success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spall also uses the word \u201cmission,\u201d to describe Cestaro\u2019s efforts on his behalf.<\/p>\n
\u201cI became a mission for her.\u00a0I haven’t met anyone like Judi before,\u00a0ever.\u00a0 I felt like no matter what needed to be done, she would take care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The last piece of Spall\u2019s dream is to walk at commencement \u2013 whenever that will be.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust holding my diploma makes me cry tears of joy. Getting it in the mail was one of the best days of my life.\u00a0Without those magical people at Farmingdale, it would never have been possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cIt’s 40 years later, and I’m officially a college grad!\u201d That\u2019s the joyous reaction of Peter Spall, former Farmingdale State College student – and now alumnus \u2013 to receiving his Associate in Recreational Leadership. Yes, it took longer than most \u2013 in fact, longer than just about anybody \u2013 for Peter to get his diploma. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":30063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/campus-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/campus-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/campus-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/campus-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/campus-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29971"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/campus-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29993,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/campus-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29971\/revisions\/29993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/campus-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/campus-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/campus-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.farmingdale.edu\/sites\/campus-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}