It doesn't feel real,
Today I completed my History/Political Science Bachelors Degree at Mount Aloysius College. It sounds so strange when I say it. I'm a college graduate. That's just outrageous. Reason being that for a very long time, I didn't think I'd ever get here.

My original freshman year occurred at another university far, far away in the long forgotten year 1999. Gas was a dollar and football was all I really cared about. I used to go to class just enough to keep my grades up which help me accumulate credits but not much of a GPA. I came into school as a business major but really had no definitive plans for the future, which lead to my downhill slide after 5 year of school. Yeah, I know, Adam how did you stay in school five years and not graduate? Well, I did. What are you gonna do about it?

After that debacle, I returned home to Altoona and ran my family's pizza shop for the next 2 1/2 years. I loved my shop but 11 hour-days and the environment was less than intellectually stimulating. We reached a point where we were gonna have to cut back to make it through the winter and after a long, emotional conversation, me and the Old Man decided to shut it down. I told everybody that my plan was to go back to school, but I really didn't believe that. After three months of not leaving the house, I met Julie in the admissions office who was, and still is, dating one of my best friends.

I came to MAC just to go through the motions to keep my mom off my back, but when I saw what Mount Aloysius College could offer me, something changed. I found out that I had accumulated more credits than I thought from the sinking ship, and that MAC would transfer 81 credits, putting me only a year and a half away from graduation. I couldn't argue with the math, so I signed up and spent all summer getting nervous about returning to school. Would I still know what to do? Could I even absorb the material? Would everybody think I'm weird?

As it turns out, that last one is true but after the first week I had a revelation. It's just school, we've all done it before. There's nothing to be scared of. So, I tried as hard as I could and what do you know, my first semester I got a 4.0. Well, good grades are addictive so I became an over-achiever, that for the first time, knew what he wanted to do with his life. The professors nurtured my brain until it was like a class 5 hurricane of knowledge, the small class atmosphere really appealed to me and every professor would go out of their way to give me individual attention. Even the administration gave me special attention when I had financial aid or scheduling problems. You just don't get that kind of treatment at a university.

Long story longer, I love MAC. My experience at Mount Aloysius College has changed my life. I know I'm coming back next semester for more classes, but it feels very different. I'm a college graduate and I always will be. There are great admissions counselors that would be happy to help you start, restart or finish your degree. You need that piece of paper, there's no way around it. The MAC is the place to do it, trust me. Now I'm done, it's time to celebrate! Enough gushing - as always, the dude abides.

Learn something, do something, be something!

DePiro Rules!

Posted by Adam DePiro at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Congratulations to me,
That's right. I'm officially a part of the Appalicha Intermediate Unit 8. For those of you non-teacher types that means after the first of the year, I'm going to be Central PA's newest substitute teacher. I know what your thinking, "why is he so excited about being a sub?" Well here's why. This will be may first chance to run a classroom, experience that whole teacher/student thing from the other side. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous, or a lotta nervous, by hey, I'm just a nervous guy.

It's not really normal people nervous, its more like before a football game nervous, when I'm just getting ready to get out there and do my thing, and get paid alright for it. Pretty cool. I plan on doing that five days a week next semester and taking a few classes to get a head start on my certification. I even think I might get an English minor while I'm here, cuz me much love proper grammar stuff.

I just wanna thank everyone who helped me a long the way, and especially Mount. Because I've done so well here and been nutured by the staff and faculty, I got a lot of confidence in my abilities that really wasn't there before. I'm trying to get on the fast track to student teach next spring and hopefully have a real jobby type job by fall of 2009. Which, incidentally, will be exactly ten years from when I started college. Ha, ha *sad laugh* But that's the goal.

Well that's that. This week is the December Graduate Luncheon so I had to go get a haircut so Grama doesn't yell at me. That's all i can pretty much think about. So I'll let you guys know how it goes. Big Man loves you.
Three people to make buddies with in school, the secretary, the lunch lady and the janitor.
DePiro Rules!

Posted by Adam DePiro at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Evening Mounties,

How have you been. Me I'm a little tried personally. My semester has been kinda back loaded. I have to say, to his point I've done pretty well. I've got one A in the books from my CLL class. My Capstone was the one that really drained me. Thirty-three pages, a new personal best. I think I'm done in Con Law but we're just watching a movie called Gideon's Trumpet to finish out the year.
I actually think Smith has given herself a ton to read so she is as ready for break as were are.

At the moment I'm moving into the last two pages of my Public Administration paper which has pretty much fought me every step of the way. I only need two more pages but the burn is I have to smush it together with two other ten page papers for my final grade. Then, after I hand that in and give my presentation on Tuesday, the only thing left is my Judaism paper.

I'm on page two of twelve on that bad boy, but I think once I get Pub. Admin. out of the way that one will write itself. Yeah, right. On the brighter side of things, this is my last week of school as an undergraduate. Feels really weird. But it looks like half decent weather for these last four days so I think things are going to go pretty smooth. AS smooth as they can anyway. Well, I'm goin got try to shake off my Steeler blues and just keep grinding the ball into the graduation endzone. Represent!
Watch out for that Capstone rubrick, it'll get cha'
DePiro Rules!

Posted by Adam DePiro at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)