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[Musical Interlude] >>Mike Martin: I enrolled at the Berks campus
for a couple of reasons. One was my dad who was a big football fan
and he followed pro football and college football, and one day I was sitting down with him and
he was watching Penn State and saw Joe Paterno and he said this guy is
gonna make this school great. So, I liked football myself and I started
following it, and then when it was time to decide which
college to go to, Penn State was my first choice.
Our class was the first class to use the Luerssen building.
We still had to buy our books over at the old building
over at the old VF Outlet, but we bought our books there and came here
for our classes. There was just a single building,
no parking, and we parked in a field which is now a very
nice grassy field for the kids to go out to.
Then when it rained, cars got stuck in it and tow trucks had to
come out and quite a different story the first year.
It is hard to believe, being here for that first building,
and now to me it looks like a major college versus just one building,
where it was hard to get into the spirit of college with just one building.
But now it looks like a total environment that
you can totally get relate to. My degree is in accounting.
I started at Berks Campus with an associate’s degree,
and I wasn’t quite sure what to do and back at that time an associate’s degree
did get you a decent job. I started out really having an interest in
accounting when I was here and I wanted to move forward
with my CPA. To do that obviously you had to have a four
year degree. So I went through two years
and I went to the Capital campus and finished the accounting courses which
I needed. From that I worked for a Fortune 500 company,
which worked out quite well because I had the opportunity to work overseas,
and various countries. I attribute that all to Berks campus
because one of the teachers, Leonard Krupshaw, who only lasted a few years.
He was quite an inspiration and he said to us
you know "if you have a strong interest in accounting it could open many doors".
With the quality of education I received here I think it is obvious from the different interviews
I have had through the years,
is that Penn State is truly respected in the field.
Also I remember, Ms. Monk she was a fencing instructor.
I don't know if she is still here, but I quite enjoyed that.
I took fencing when she was here and I still remember her and also there was a
gentleman called Bernard Hanahoe,
who was an instructor in finance. He was quite an interesting character too.
I think he is still in this area because I see him,
he looks like Ben Franklin. He does those reenactments so I do remember
him also. I got involved in the mentoring program last
year and I found it really interesting
because I was on a panel with several other individuals.
And each person brought their own unique experience to the session.
And the students that were there, obviously this was all volunteering,
so it was quite interesting the comments they asked,
they asked a lot of questions that I thought were
meaningful for their experience. One item that a lot of them questioned about
were, "do you really have to show up on time for
work, is it really critical that you do this in
communications?" And obviously they all have different understanding
today than I think some of the folks who have gone
through the school. I thought it was beneficial to not only myself,
but I think that the kids learned a lot from the various panel.
I walked away with a different understanding of today’s youth
coming out of school. My son is coming to Berks campus this fall.
He gets his first orientation, July 13 or 14th.
He got interested in Penn State I think somewhat like myself.
We got season tickets and we go up to the football games
and he saw the opportunities that I had that Penn State had given me.
I get to travel and get to do things that maybe
some other folks don't have. So I think that part of the experience of
seeing what I do motivated him to choose Penn State
and he really likes the campus. He has been over here
and I can tell you that a graduate of Wilson this past May,
and several of his other classmates will be following him
to Penn State Berks this fall. My future vision of Berks is continuous growth
in the four year programs with the opportunities for those that choose
to go up to University Park or Main campus.
I think this has a great atmosphere and it has the total package now.
You can get the four year degrees and you have lodging here and I think it is
a great college within a college and I think the opportunities
here with the land we still have to build on I
think it is a great opportunity for the school to increase its' enrollment
and become a major college in Berks County. I think it has the dynamics to just be the
perfect place. I'm proud of Penn State
and my life has given me a chance to get a good education here.
But for it's sports programs, and its' academic programs,
I truly believe in giving back to an organization where you feel you benefited from
and I feel that the experience overall was second to none.
[Musical Interlude]