Participant Stories | Project Talent

I have always been curious about my progress and what was discovered about me “way back then” and the predictions of where I might be in the future.

Being raised in San Francisco and attending Mercy High School, I had the opportunity to participate in the Project. As Student Body President, I also had the pleasure of personally meeting the Regional Director of the Project, Dr. Frederick MacDonald of Stanford University, and exchanging a few words with him regarding its importance. 

Excited, I welcomed the participation and when completing each series, I remember leaving every day thinking that someone in academia, somewhere, actually cared about who I was and what I had to offer. 

That was a good feeling!!! Far too often, we were required to take academic tests and I never did think that the examination tested my knowledge of the subject!

Throughout the years, a series of questionnaires were completed tracking my progress. It was always a reflective time for me! Several years went by without receiving any word from the Project, so I investigated on the internet. When I discovered that a representative would be at our high school class reunion, I was thrilled! 

Finally, I would be able to get some feedback! I did and was thankful for the response received! 

Thirty-three years. Go figure. As a kid, I loved to read…in fact I was the only kid my age, on my block who could read comic books, not just look at the pictures. Very often some of the kids would stop by and ask me to read their comics to them.

I also remember warm summer evenings in our blue-collar neighborhood, sitting on my porch with the neighborhood kids gathered around while I told them stories extemporaneously…..perhaps the reading and story-telling made up for the low scores in English language, grammar, and mechanics. 

As a youth, I felt the creative urge outside of story-telling. My parents loved music…my dad was a whistler which drove the family crazy but mom played a little guitar and piano. They encouraged my brother and me to take music lessons. My brother showed aptitude in percussion….banging on pots and pans with a wooden spoon and torturing us for hours.

I was influenced by two cousins who were a talented musicians, one played the accordion( like every good Italian kid in Auburn) and one sang and played the piano.I began my music career on the accordion and eventually, as an adult, began playing the saxophone….my instrument of choice to express my love of jazz. 

A glance at my Project Talent results show a high percentile in CREATIVITY and MUSIC. What a relief. My love of jazz, of playing extemporaneously, fits in well with the Project Talent scores and what I loved to do a summer evenings as a kid. 

What I found most interesting were my high scores in Math and Science….This confused me since limped my way though those coursed in high school and college and was convinced I had had my left brain removed by a nocturnal alien encounter.

So now, in my retirement I find time to read a lot, to rehearse with my jazz band and to try to find more hidden meaning in the results of my Project Talent survey which, remarkably, I remember taking…..I guess the aliens missed me.  

My parents didn’t give me much of a chance at success (although I am pretty sure they loved me enough to NOT throw me out with the daily trash). I was an average student, barely got by but did not have what it took to read, comprehend, relate like so many of my “normal” classmates.

For the last 50 years I seem to have survived pretty well, although not as my parents and school principal had expected. My dad was a professional in business and my mom was a concert pianist. They were both avid readers. All of my cousins were over achievers and have fared well financially; I had to work for a living. 

I went to the University of Texas in 1960 and 1961 as my family wished (insisted) to take pre-med courses. I was not prepared for college. I dropped out and barely avoided the draft by getting married at the age of 23 and became a Dallas Police Officer, Grand Prairie Police Officer and during that time started a family and took criminal justice courses to attain a “master policeman” status (more money). 

After 14 very gratifying years in law enforcement I left Texas and moved to Rochester, NY to become an Executive Security Director for a very large corporation. In 1973 I did the unmentionable...I ran for a political office in my home town and became a Local Criminal Court Magistrate and went to The University of Buffalo at Amherst NY for certification and was once again in Law Enforcement. 

In 1977 I felt the need for a little more money to secure a retirement future so I worked for FedEx and retired from everything at the age of 55 with some pretty good benefits and pensions. My wife of 47 years worked for the United States Postal Service for 25 years and retired in 2002 with some good benefits.

In 2006 I started my own (retirement) photography business, live in the woods with my wife, dogs and horses ... feel like I beat the odds that were given to me to become a “hood”, a “drunk”, a “miserable failure”, and end up in jail!

I am very interested to see my Project Talent scores to understand what might have been projected as a future success for a middle of the road problem child with some learning disabilities. It wasn’t until many years later the medical profession discovered dyslexia as a probable cause for poor reading comprehension, and I was apparently born with some level of dyslexia. Reading books of interest was much easier for me especially law and police policy. 

I would really be interested to know more about the success percentages of the class of 1960. We all lived in a great time in a great country and were given great opportunities to create a wonderful society of caring people, heroes, and morally fit families.

Project Talent Statistics should be most interesting. THANK YOU for coming back to life!  

I was not always so sure, however, what that success would look like or how I would achieve it. In high school, my goal was to go to college and become a vocal music teacher. I still think that I would have thrived in those roles, but I went in a different direction.

Immediately after high school, I went to work at a local factory with the intention of saving some money so that I could enroll in college in the fall. I didn’t save very much, so I continued to work and postponed college until the next year. After a year of factory work, I did enroll using the little money I had saved and some money from a personal loan to pay the tuition. I was as a full time student at the local community college and found a full time job at a local restaurant. I completed one semester with only mediocre grades and then dropped out.

I returned to work at the local factory, and, while I did not have a clear plan, I was still determined to become successful. At the factory, I was offered the job of “Runner” in the product engineering department. It was the lowest paid position in the department, but I took it. As the “Runner,” I was at the beck and call of the engineering management and the entire engineering staff. 

I received requests as varied as getting the oil changed in the Chief Engineer’s car to getting prototype parts through various factories. I learned a lot about engineering and manufacturing, and I knew I could apply what I had learned. Forty years later, I retired from the only company I had ever worked for, as the manager of Engineering and Quality.

Most people would say that the world today is much more complex than it was 50 years ago. I’m not so sure of that. Yes, there is a never ending stream of technological change, but that has always been the case. I know, from having lived nearly seven decades, that mankind is quite capable of adapting to anything that comes along. 

I think that the most significant change is the degree of specialization in education and the work place. Medical doctors are specialists of individual organs or diseases, engineers are specialist in gear tooth shapes or x. While these specialists are no doubt very good in their specialties, I worry that they lack the well-rounded education required for making sound and reasoned life-decisions. 

Just as I believed in high school, it is important to be successful in your work. I know now, however, that it is also important to be a good friend, spouse, parent, and citizen.  

At the time, however, I was unsure whether I would attend college. My father had only a third grade education and did not think that additional schooling was necessary. My mother had attended college and wanted me to continue my education, but my parents could not afford the tuition. I decided to work full-time while taking classes in Business and Engineering. It took me five years, but I graduated without any debt.

Following college, I volunteered for military service. I am proud to have served during the height of the Viet Nam War and still display my Honorable Discharge. When I returned, I married a beautiful girl from South Carolina. We have two wonderful children and three grandchildren whom I adore. I spent over thirty years coaching sports for the local recreational organization. I have also been blessed to serve my church, community and state on various Boards and Commissions. I recently retired as a Senior Staff Engineer for Mitsubishi Polyester Film, and I am eager to see what the next few years hold.

The world today is much more complicated than the world of the 1950s. Technological advances have opened up a world of information to us, but they have also revealed much of our personal information to the world. I am glad I grew up in the time and place that I did. I’ve had a great life. I’d be happy to do it all again.