Go West (WSU Here I Come)!

Going to graduate school was a goal of mine starting in 1987. That year I was looking at Montana State University (Bozeman) very hard. Another life goal I had at that time was to travel overseas. An opportunity to visit my great friend Jeff Harrits who was teaching at an International American School near Cairo, Egypt presented itself. After much consideration I decided to hold off on attending grad school and visit Jeff. It was an amazing trip.

Four years later I was contemplating graduate school and traveling overseas again. A dream I had since 6th grade was to travel to Australia. Once again travel won out and I fulfilled this dream in December of 1991. The trip was great and provided me with a large dose of the wonders to be found in the "land down under."

Since 1985 I had been working full-time first as the Program Director and then Associate Director at Phantom. Phantom's success as an independent YMCA Camp had become well known across the YMCA. In the early '90s I started getting contacted by representatives from YMCAs inquiring about my interest in opportunities to direct their camps. I kindly declined invitations to apply for the positions finding it difficult to imagine myself working at a camp other than Phantom. Looking back, I should have accepted the invitations and gone to the interviews. It would have been good experience to garner and on top of that a lot can be learned just from visiting other camps.

Also, in the early '90s, I started visiting the University of Illinois a lot (I wonder why). The desire to pursue a graduate degree flared up again. Then in 1995 the director of Phantom, Sir G, announced that he was going to retire at the end of the year. This took me by surprise at first. I thought he was still a few more years away from retirement. With his encouragement I applied for Phantom's executive director position. In the fall while the selection process was taking place I was contacted by the Buffalo (NY) YMCA about directing their resident camp. It was at this time I learned that there were individuals on the Phantom selection committee that considered me to be "too young" and "not quite ready" for Phantom's executive director position. The committee did go ahead and offered the position to another candidate. I was stunned. I went ahead and submitted my resume to Buffalo. I also sent applications to several graduate programs at schools located in the Pacific Northwest. In December I flew out to Seattle and visited three of the schools. The state's beauty grabbed me and Western Washington University in Bellingham rose to the top of my list of potential schools.

It was shortly after I returned from Seattle that I was contacted by the Buffalo YMCA and was invited for an interview. Just that morning it was in the news that Buffalo received 90 inches of snow! The camp property's physical description was tremendous - 1500 forested acres with several private lakes. This type of setting was very appealing to me. Had I not made the trip to Seattle I may have made the trip to Buffalo. Visiting the schools made going back to school tangible. I decided that if I was going to go to grad school it was either now or likely never. I respectfully declined Buffalo's invitation and set my sight on going graduate school. It would turn out to be one of the best life decisions I ever made. Jenny would join me on this journey. Her support was immeasurable and contributed mightily to my success. It was on a snowy February day that we packed up a U-haul and drove West. Our plan was to drive to Pullman, WA where Washington State University (WSU) is located and is only ten miles from the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID. After meeting faculty at both schools I came away impressed. Jenny and I decided to stay in the area and wait to see if either school accepted my application to their program. WSU became my first choice and much to my delight accepted me into their graduate program for Recreation Administration and Leisure Studies.