Ever since I was a child I wanted to go to the University of Michigan, but I dropped out of High School in my senior year after missing 33 straight days in a row.  Apparently just “forgetting to go” isn’t an excuse they’re willing to accept. Obviously, I went back and even graduated with honors earning an academic letter from the school I graduated from.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have the money to go to college directly after high school like many of my friends did.  Being the last of five children growing up in a Detroit suburb, college wasn’t the first thing on my mind.  Instead, I went to work in the “salt mines”.  To me it seemed like the right thing to do.  Being naïve, I didn’t understand what a college education could ultimately offer.

I grew up in a blue collar home.  My father went to trade school after he left the military and began his career being a Boiler Technician.  He worked for several good companies, that I am aware of, before he found his niche in the Detroit Public School system.  My dad knew a great many things about carpentry, plumbing, electrical, building, rebuilding, fixing engines, most everything about cars, bicycle repair, cement work, and etc.  My interpretation of my dad was, if he could gain all that knowledge without college then why would I need to go.  So, I used that excuse to not go anywhere, but to start my work life.

My first job out of High School was building and loading software onto computer controlled cash registers (the same kind you see in Target, Hudson’s, Macy’s, Talbots, Maurices, and other stores) and loading the software onto the IBM computers themselves as well as installing hardware and upgrading the RAM, where applicable.  It was easy work, and we had a blast doing it. 

Computers had, basically, just come out for home use only a few years before.  This was my opportunity to work with something that I understood but didn’t own.  I loved working in a warehouse/shipping environment.  To this day I would still be doing this type of work if there were any money in it.  It’s good honest work where I got to build something with my hands, install something using my mind, and package and load the equipment up for shipment to a customer who would start up a new store that would help people acquire something they wanted.  I was an integral part of the cog.

I worked that job for enough years and learned to build my own computer by understanding what was needed.  This position also taught me the basics of troubleshooting computer problems especially when it comes to the software installation process.  Alas, that company eventually was sold to a high bidder and closed.  Fortunately, thanks be to God, I found another job around the corner doing shipping and receiving.  It was nice.  Another good, honest job.  But by this time, I wanted to learn more.  Eventually I became the “crib captain”…not a real title.  I took care of all the equipment required to perform kitting jobs on the CNC’s we built at this company.  I didn’t order any of it.  We used a Kanban system so I would just hand the cards to the Material Coordinator, and she would put the items into her computer along with the customer orders and all that would roll up into EDI information passed on to our customers to acquire more parts that came into the Receiving Department.  Well, obviously I wanted her job because it was yet another step higher.  I just had no understanding of the software or how to use it.

The manager of Purchasing and Shipping & Receiving took a liking to me and taught me everything I needed to move into that position.  And so, I did eventually.  All this being done with no college education, which this company offered to help pay for.  Of course, this is when I started to reconsider my options again.  But I was working and moving into an office position so why would I need college?  The clerk they hired into the position I left in S&R had a family, I didn’t at that time, but I had three years on him with this company.  I knew three different positions in the company and was becoming an asset.  Unfortunately, I found out they hired him in making WAY more money than me and  I was pissed.  Obviously I confronted my manager, yes, the one who trained me.  The money was given to him, he said, “because he had a family” not because he had gone to college, which he didn’t either.  Needless to say, I was out of there. 

I decided I wanted to work at Ford and applied through many temporary agencies.  Eventually I received an interview because I had good extensive experience as a S&R Clerk, a Stockroom Clerk, and a Material Coordinator.  The people with whom I had the interview all commented on it.  They also commented on the fact I had no education, but even that…still, wasn’t the deciding factor.  They told me Ford wouldn’t let me work at any of their offices or plants until I had direct manufacturing experience.  Great, one more thing I needed to learn.  That’s when I applied, and was accepted to, a plant 2+ hours from my home.  Now I had to move.

This position was as a “line dog” but I loved that too.  We worked hard that this place.  It was a mandatory seven day work week.  I worked the night shift, and I was lucky to get that position.  Hundreds of people applied to this factory each month.  Our schedule was twelve hours Monday through Friday, ten hours on Saturday, and eight on Sunday.  It was harrowing to say the least, but I loved the people I worked with.  They were fun and we had fun after work sometimes.  This was yet another company that offered to pay for part of a college education for me.  Needless to say, I still wasn’t smart enough to take them up on the offer, but how could I working those hours.  Of course I was only minutes away from Michigan State at this point in my life.  I worked there for about a year until I had enough experience, plus a desire to move back to my own neighborhood.  Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I ended up quitting my job and applied at Ford again.  This time to great success.

Again, no college degree required but now I was in my early thirties.  I worked under contract for Ford.  They wouldn’t hire me in because I didn’t have a degree.  I started as their Material Coordinator but ended up being their Material Manager because I moved everything into a warehouse by the airport and consolidated multiple lots of inventory located in five or six places around the US.  Prior to my arrival, they had their Purchasing Manager and team controlling their inventory.  If you know anything about the differences between Purchasing and Material Control, then you know they are on opposite sides of the spectrum.  They purchased so much material that I had to scrap millions of dollars of old, unusable, material.  Regardless, the consolidation provided me an opportunity to do some good for a major company. 

The contract company I worked for also offered college; however, the hoops to leap through were extensive and the payout wasn’t that great.  Fortunately, I did take them up on their offer…finally.  I went to junior college and earned an Associate degree in Business Management.  Most of my classes were in Accounting though, which oddly enough I had a knack for and seemed to like it.  I graduated Magna Cum Laude and a member of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society.  I was quite happy when I achieved the degree; however, I didn’t “walk” because I told myself I would walk when I graduated from the University of Michigan, which yes, I still wanted to go to.

I applied to UofM and was accepted based on my previous grades.  Fortunately, they also took all my credits.  This saved me a ton of money.  I took my first, and subsequently only class at the University and then I lost my job.  My thinking was if I were to be more involved with Ford’s money, they would have to hire me, so I tried to move into their Purchasing Department.  I trained my replacement for just over six months.  Once he was up to speed, I moved into a position, still contracted, with their Purchasing team.  I figured it would only be days before they hire me in.  I was now an analyst working in their Cost Reduction Idea Database system (CRID).  It appears the manager of that department was three months away from retirement so their largest cost reduction would be to disband the entire department.  They “fired” me and one other contracted employee and moved their two permanent employees to part time.

I was devastated but, again, the good Lord provided for me and got me the position I still hold to this day (19 years and a couple of weeks as I write this).  The issue was, after Ford I didn’t go back to college until late 2016.  I was now in my late forties.  I had a manager at my company who appeared to absolutely hate me.  Always riding me, micromanaging everything, yelling about not doing business any other way but his.  It was horrible, but one of the things he rode me about was completing my education.  The offer was, if I received an “A”, the company would pay for half the tuition.  This still didn’t entice me to go back.  It wasn’t until a blow came to my wife’s family that changed my mind.

During my time in this career, I had many life-changing experiences and events happen.  Of course, they are all stories for another time but one was when my Father-In-Law was let go from his position and no one wanted to hire him because he was a Technical Engineer who only had an associate degree.  To this day he only works temporary jobs.  Of course, that’s ok now because he finally retired, but they ended up losing their home and most of their savings from the change to their lives.  He was over 50 with no degree.  It was at that time I made a vow to graduate with a degree in Business before I turned 50.  Well, I didn’t make it…exactly.

As I said, the offer from work was fantastic.  But my wife is to “blame” for my final decision to go back to school and for the fact I did well.  She sacrificed time and money, while allowing me to devote all my spare time to school and all while we were going through matters related to having a baby and eventually the adoption of our daughter.  Because of her help I aced every class but one in which I received an A-.  I ended up graduating from the University of Michigan in December of 2019.  My degree was a tri-major, which is no longer offered as I understand it.  I was a Business, Journalism, and Communications major.  My class was the last class allowed to “walk” for over a year because Covid-19 hit the country. 

Because I didn’t want to walk in junior college this event was something special to me.  They recorded the event, but I was told we weren’t allowed to have a copy of it.  That was frustrating.  I was even asked, “Why is this so important to you?” by the people telling me I couldn’t have a copy.  I guess if one doesn’t know the whole story and all the context I left out of this story one wouldn’t understand why it was so important.  I now have the video of the commencement, yes, there were a few hoops to jump through because I wanted the raw video and not the YouTube version I found.  I only watched the part when I walk across the stage a few times, but it makes me happy that I was fortunate enough to be allowed to do this.  I was the first one in my family to achieve a formal college education and what made it more sweet is that it was from my university, the best university, the only choice in universities…the University of Michigan.

When I registered to graduate, I was asked to speak at commencement (which turned out was another competition to do better than the other candidates whose grades were also very high), but it was nice being asked, nonetheless.  I graduated with a 3.98 GPA because of that one A-, so that grinds me a little.  But like they say on Whose Line is it Anyway?, “The points don’t really matter.” in the end.   

In all honesty, I wish I would have gone to school much sooner but I know I wouldn’t have done as well with my grades.  I was quite the screwup in my younger years.  I also did it at half the cost of the education itself because of the kickback I received from the policy at my company.  For anyone who chooses to go to college and graduate, I believe it will pay off in the end and everyone will be a winner at that point.  Another kick in the butt is, had I of gone when I was supposed to go, I believe I would be making more money than I do now.