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BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

Getting active on campus made student’s transition easier

Brian Phillips
News Editor

What's it like for a 35-year-old to drop everything and start college?

Ask Anthony McCloud.

The criminal justice student, who graduates in June, experienced that situation when he enrolled at UC in the summer of 2000.

"I had to give up a lot," McCloud said.

But he doesn't regret it. In fact, now he's planning to go to graduate school.

McCloud has come a long way in four years.

Between high school and college, he gathered a lot of work experience - as an aircraft electrician in the Air Force, working in a bank and landscaping, among other positions.

Advancing in most of those jobs, however, depended heavily on one factor:

"Promotions came down to 'this person started two days or five minutes before you,'" McCloud said. "It was never an intellectual thing."

Tired of competing on a level that he felt was beneath him, McCloud started thinking about making a change. In addition to frustration with job prospects, he also thought some choices in his life could have been better.

"I realized it was my obligation to change my life and give back to the community," McCloud said.

So he enrolled at UC.

Unlike many non-traditional students who only take a few evening classes, McCloud started full-time.

"I decided to be devoted, get involved," he said. And get involved, he did.

He got a job at the university, working in the Student Assistance Center in French Hall. He joined the University College Student Government tribunal and was a SG senator for three years. After University College closed, McCloud participated on a committee to establish the Center for Access and Transition, which opens Fall Quarter 2004.

As an upperclassman, McCloud mentored underclass criminal justice students in the Partners in Justice program.

McCloud's leadership opportunities at UC haven't come solely from his age - but sometimes people do look to him to lead.

"They expected me to take a leadership role," he said.

At times, though, it was a challenge.

"The old saying, 'age is wisdom,' that isn't always true," McCloud said with a laugh.

McCloud also said he's stayed so busy that he hasn't spent as much time with the members of Sigma Phi Epsilon, of which he is a member, as he would have liked.

But leadership is something he plans to continue.

After college, and possibly after graduate school, McCloud wants to work with young people.

"A lot of young African Americans have more experience with the judicial board than the church board or the school board," he said.

With a master's in education or curriculum and instruction, McCloud would like to have a hand in improving the educational system. He cites standardized testing as one area that could be better.

McCloud said some people are at a disadvantage because some terms on tests are only familiar to particular communities.

"I saw one test that said something about brunch. What is brunch? I don't have brunch," he said. Working in the educational system, he said, he could make a difference. He does acknowledge there's a lot of work to be done.

"You can't fix it overnight," he said.

But devoting time to a goal isn't anything new for McCloud. Now that he's wrapping up school, he said he feels ready for another challenge - and being a few years older than other graduates shouldn't be a problem.

Overall, age hasn't negatively affected McCloud's UC experience.

"For the most part, I am the oldest person in my classes," he said. "But the reception has been great."

"When you do what you're supposed to do, [professors and other students] reach out to you, same as any student."