MY GREATEST PLACES - Part 2

“Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I'll love you more”

What’s so great about Altoona? These words were asked of me by a friend when I told him where I was attending college in the fall of 1996. I can understand his thought process. He was headed to USC after a tremendous academic high school career. I was headed to the only place that would take me after the four most miserable years of my life that I’d really rather forget.

Let’s not make any bones about it. I hated high school. I felt like an outcast, I couldn’t stand my regimented academic schedule, I had zero luck with the ladies and I had enough acne on my face to publish a connect the dots travel book. I should also mention that I was battling depression and I really felt like my life was headed in the wrong direction. So even though Penn State Altoona was far colder than the University of Southern California, it was a welcome change in refocusing my life.

In truth, the expectations were low from the minute I stepped on campus. My parents were already gearing for my imminent return home for semester #2 and plan “B” for community college was the likely next destination. My personal expectations were to simply not be home by semester # 2. I’m not really sure what happened to me that 1^st semester but I felt the tides of life changing in my favor. I don’t want to seem to cliché and say my experiences at Penn State Altoona changed my life, but in reality they really did. The first few days seemed to tempt my evil-doings. I was in an off campus apartment and almost every night there was binge drinking and pot smoking all around me. This is nothing different than any other college campus around America, except I was already in the mindset that I was doomed for academic failure, the party scene just seemed to be a natural place for me to gravitate. I admit that I did partake in some early beer ponging and keg standing but when it came to my studies I really put things into gear.

Penn State Altoona is as a small satellite campus. When I began, the school had around 3000 undergraduate students. It was a 45-minute ride to the main campus, which had around 45,000 students at the time. The school would never come out and directly say this but Penn State Altoona was really the school you go to, if you were not good enough to make the cut for the main campus. The perception was that PSU Altoona was everyone’s fall back plan. For me, it was the only plan. PSU Altoona is “167.2 acres with more than 20 buildings centered around a pond, including a student union, athletic complex with indoor pool, fitness loft and weight room; computer center; library; state-of-the-art science and engineering labs; theater; art and music studios.” In truth it offered as much as any small liberal arts school around the country with one extra benefit, do well here and they’ll graduate you to the main campus. It was the training wheels of college in most cases.

To say that my first semester was a success would be an understatement. After nearly failing out of high school, I began my first semester by earning a 3.13 GPA. I followed that semester with a 3.87 and I will add that I earned a 3.0 or higher in 8 out of my 9 semesters of undergraduate studies and a 3.30 or better in my 6 semesters of graduate studies but I digress. I don’t even think my academic success was the true mark that Penn State Altoona had on my life.

When I proclaim the school saved my life, it’s really because the school changed my life. It was the first time that I felt liberated from the societal pressures that I felt at home. It was the first time that I felt like I made my parents proud and it was the place where I learned to cultivate my sense of truth and empowerment. I was able to choose educational courses that were more suited to my interests as opposed to high school where courses were assigned based on the schools desired learning paradigm. I will also say that my acne cleared up while in college, which subsequently boosted my self-esteem and suspended my lingering effects of depression. I won’t say that Altoona changed my luck with the ladies. I think those days came along around somewhere in 1998 but Altoona certainly gave me the confidence to know that with hard work, discipline and a bit of independence, I could make responsible choices and change the trajectory of my life.

If my freshmen year set the precedence for this transformation then my sophomore year clearly defined it. It was the fall of 1997 and I began the semester in an on-campus suite. The demand for enrolling at PSU Altoona was becoming evident as new residences halls were being erect. I shared a 2-bedroom suite with two strangers from Central Pennsylvania and a guy from upstate New York, whom I had befriended my freshman year. His name was Brian “Big Bri” Burdick and to this day, I associate him with my good experiences in Altoona because he was probably one of the best roommates a guy could ever hope for in college. Big Bri weighed in at about 250 pounds and was 6 feet 4 inches high. He also played the clarinet. He was a very easy guy to get a long with and we ended up taking a lot of similar classes together. He was well-respected and well-liked and made college enjoyable for me.

One day in late 2007, I decided to audition for the campus production of “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up.” If Altoona was my salvation then I would confidently say that this show would prove to be the catalyst that propelled that salvation. It is important to note that despite my early love of theater, I was never cast into any shows in high school. In a sad confession, this was the rudimentary issues behind my self-esteem and depression issues. When I walked on to that stage to audition at PSU Altoona, I looked directly into the eyes of that director and knew that she believed in me more than any one person in my life at the time. That director, Nona Gerard, cast me in a relatively big role and assured me that I was “ready for the challenge.” It should be recognized that this musical was about children growing up in catholic school and often alluded to the presence of patron saints. To this day, I claim that Nona Gerard was my Saint Valentine because the love, confidence and reassurance she showed me was something that no teachers ever gave me in high school.

I recognize that being in a show seems very trivial to the common person but for the 4-months of rehearsing and 2 straight weeks of performing, I was a rock star and my life was changing every day. I remember that my 2^nd to last performance was viewed by 16 family members and friends who caravanned the 3.5 hours from the Philadelphia area to see me. There were my parents, who were front and center. Seeing me succeed in the show was just the icing on the cake to my success with my studies. The show also developed lifelong bonds with some of the cast members. The lead character was played by Alex Abrahantes. Because Altoona was a small campus everyone knew him because of his distinctive WWF jacket that he wore proudly around campus. Now he and I were quickly becoming friends. Then there was a cast member named Tressa Assid, who got a late start on her campus preparations and got an interesting college roommate. She lived with a little old lady named Gerti, who rented Tressa a room for the semester. Then there was Amanda Hecht, who everyone recognized as the true talent destined for show biz. Amanda had this warm and sarcastic personality. She always seemed to be the voice of reason in the group. “Big Bri” got involved in stage crew and part of that commitment was he had to dress like a nun. Boy, how I wish I could find a picture of that somewhere. Together, we all formed a lame friendship club called, “The Crotch Chop Club.” The origin is a story for another time. The bottom line is that I had friends, which was a nice thing to have in life. It’s been 12-years since the show but I can remember every detail of that time in my life. I often wish I can put the memories in a bottle and open them up when reflecting on the moments of my life.

I met several other people in the show. There was a guy named Eugene Kim, who lived near me at home and I met a lovely local girl named Lauren Anastasi, who was our female lead in the show. Laurens father also joined the cast in a pretty significant role. Her dad, John was a nationally recognized Thoracic Surgeon at the local hospital. He also gave the cast a few things we’d never forget.

A. An incredibly authentic and terrific performance

B. The donation of renting the body mics for the show

C. The unique opportunity to watch him perform an open heart surgery.

Yes, you read it correctly. After the show ended, I, along with many of us in the cast, went to the hospital and watched him perform an open heart surgery. I’m not talking about watching it from an observation booth or from closed circuit television. I was literally 12-18 inches away from a human heart. It was one of the most remarkable things I have ever witnessed in my life.

Many of you have made it to this point of my blog and are probably saying to yourself “Ok, I get it, you enjoyed college. What’s the big deal?” The big deal is that in order for my life to change, I needed to be at that particular school at that particular time of my life. Maybe it was fate but I needed Altoona, I needed Professor Gerard’s faith, I needed those friendships and I needed to witness an open heart surgery at Altoona Regional Health System to put perspective into my life. It’s the place that where my greatest memories were made and my life was saved.