Staying in School

I went to summer school after my freshman year of college and again after my second year. Back then you needed to stay on pace to graduate in 4 years or it could jeopardize your draft status. After my earlier experience with the draft board I wanted to avoid that at all costs. I went to summer school at Iowa Wesleyan both summers and did Ok.

Still after two years at Southeastern Community College it appeared that my critics were right. I was not really college material. In the spring of 1969 I took interest surveys and aptitude tests. After several consultations with my advisor it was determined that I was best suited to be an industrial draftsman. The assessments said I had a high aptitude in math and would do well in that field. Go figure! I lost my faith in those tests right there!

Nevertheless, wanting to stay in school and believing I couldn’t get in a four-year college I enrolled and was accepted in the two-year industrial draftsman program at Southeastern. I planned on attending until late that summer when one day in early August my Dad said someone from Iowa Wesleyan had been in the store and said that Wesleyan was really hurting for students because of the war and would take almost anyone. Dad thought I should apply.

Not really believing I had a chance I went through the whole application process. I was surprised that I received a letter of acceptance in just a few days. I was accepted on academic probation. All I needed was a 2.8 GPA my first semester and I was in. If I didn’t get a 2.8 my slate was clean and it would be as if I had never been there at all.

I don’t know exactly what happened? Part of it was maturity. Part of it was that the college was very supportive and made sure I did well, and part of it was the fear of the draft. Anyway, I had a 3.1 GPA after that first semester and was never in academic jeopardy again, eventually ending up on the dean’s list.

In the two years I had been at the community college I had been an English major, a Physical Education major, a business major, and back to an English major. When I enrolled at Iowa Wesleyan I decided that I would be a physical education major.

Olan Ruble, a famous teacher and coach was my advisor. He had coached a number of Olympic women’s basketball teams and was well known. Google him today and you will find that he was a pioneer in women’s sports nationally and internationally. It was him who brought the Russian women’s basketball team to Mt. Pleasant for a game.

He was a genuinely kind person and very good to me but after a semester as a physical education major I knew it was not for me. I told my sister, Nancy of my dissatisfaction with that major and that I just didn’t know what direction to go. Nancy told me a story about a man who had gone into elementary education. She reminded me of my love for teaching swimming lessons and told me male teachers were in great demand. The rest is history.