From Stuart Hill to Steubenville - An Educational Legacy

As I write this, I am approaching the day when I walk the aisle to get a major educational achievement - I will be receiving my long-awaited Master's degree.   This is happening about 43 years after I stepped into a kindergarten class at the age of five in Baltimore, and both of these events inspired my title of this piece.

If you go into downtown Baltimore at the corner of Gilmor and Lombard Streets, there is a massive brick building with white trim called Stuart Hill Academy.   In 1975, I was a kindergartener at Stuart Hill, as at the time we lived nearby on Stafford Street where my mother was helping out my great-aunt Ruth.  Back in those days, that section of western Baltimore had a lot of West Virginians who had settled in the area, including a large number of our family.  The move to Baltimore started for many West Virginians shortly after World War II, when many of the small towns back home started to decline - businesses that once thrived were moving elsewhere, and as a result people needed incomes.  Being many West Virginian young men had went through Baltimore on the way to the theatres of war they were sent to fight in as they enlisted in the Army, Marines, and Navy, many saw the glamour of city life for the first time.  When they came home from Europe and the Pacific in 1945, many of these young men were able to buy homes with the GI Bill, and they moved their families to the cities where they found work.  If you happened to be from northern or eastern West Virginia in those days, you more than likely ended up in Baltimore.  And, many of our family ended up there as a result.  At the time I had arrived there, it was late 1974, and Mom and Dad had recently divorced and Mom was essentially wanting to bunk at relatives' houses.  So, that is what we did, and it was our Aunt Ruth's house.  With our arrival, Aunt Ruth (or Pip as we called her) had quite the full house.  Aunt Ruth was bedridden from multiple sclerosis at the time, and in return for staying there Mom helped our young cousins, Greg and Gayle, out with her.  It was at this point I also started my first year of school at Stuart Hill Academy. 

I don't recall much what my actual first day was like when I started kindergarten, because frankly I was too young.  However, I quickly adjusted to the elderly teacher, Mrs. Doughty, who was very longsuffering of a precocious five-year-old.  I remember though the walk to school, often with my cousin Gayle, and that was interesting.  I also remember Mom coming up there to get me, and when she'd get paid on Fridays, we would go downtown and Mom would get me an orange soda at a store owned by a Jewish grocer.  Anyway, that was how my academic saga started. 

Let's move ahead 43 years - I am living back in Maryland again, interesting enough, but I have finished another aspect of my academic saga at a very different institution.  Franciscan University of Steubenville is in Ohio, and is an institution that is over 70 years old and also one of the most dynamic Roman Catholic institutions of higher learning in the country.  However, unlike Stuart Hill in Baltimore, which was a few blocks walking from where we lived then, Franciscan University is two states away from us, and my first visit to that campus will happen on my graduation on May 12th.  Due to the miracle of cybercommunication, I was able to do my entire degree online over the course of four years, and have never had to be on campus.  So, this will not only be my first time visiting the campus, but actually my first time visiting Steubenville itself.  I am actually anticipating the experience.

There is a lot to do in the next two weeks before taking off.  I have to get a cap and gown (and my Master's hood) and I also have to schedule a visit with the barber, as well as buying a new outfit for the occasion.  I am actually, on Barbara's advice, going to coordinate school colors into my outfit - I am thinking mint-green dress shirt and gold tie?  That of course is subject to revision, but that is the line of thought.  And pictures - many pictures!  I plan on getting professional pictures done there, as well as getting a picture with Fr. Sheridan, our university President, and additionally a lot of pictures we will be taking ourselves.  The amount of planning that goes into something like this can be a bit overwhelming, but given the accomplishment, this is also a time of celebrating my achievement.  So, a lot to do.

Another thing too - Steubenville is not where it ends either, as I also plan on pursuing my doctorate, and plan on starting that in September 2019.  There are preparations to be made for that too - I have to schedule a GRE exam, take a French class as an unofficial prerequisite, and fill out lots of paperwork.  Ironically, when I finish that, I will be 55 years old, and it will be approximately 50 years at that point since I first stepped into that kindergarten classroom in Baltimore.  And, another kicker - my doctorate will be done at Catholic University of America (provided everything falls into place) which is in our nation's capital.  So, my final academic achievement will be earned in about 6 years from a university that is only 30 miles from where I went to kindergarten.  A lot of interesting parallels with things to be sure.

Good Lord - when I earn my doctorate, I will have been in school (off and on) for over 50 years!!  I think starting school at 5 years old and finishing up at 55 years old will be a legacy in itself.  But, as we quickly find out, education is a lifelong process for the inquisitive, and the active mind never starts learning.  However, the learning will transition to daily life rather than a formal classroom.  Just some insights I have had going on over the past several days I thought I would share.   At the risk of sounding cliche, for younger readers my encouragement to you is "stay in school," and perhaps you can write your own legacy some day.