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He's the oldest practicing psychologist in US”.

He had a few
first-day-of school jitters when he arrived on campus: The first
time he walked into class, (othe students) thought he was the
professor.

At 84, this senior is a college freshman

It’s hard to feel college freshman Jack Slotnick for giving a knowing smile in his Lynn University
history class as the professor and discussing events that shaped American history. After all,
Calvin Coolidge wasPresident when Slotnick was born.

The 84-year-old Floridian was enjoying life away from the workaday world after retiring from
two self-owned businesses, but he sensed a void in his life. And as his daily travels often had him
driving past Lynn University in Boca Raton, the cause of the void became more and more
apparent. “I felt — not inadequate, that’s not the right word — I felt like something was
missing,” Slotnick told NBC News.

Slotnick finally stopped by Lynn University. He transferred his credits earned at Brooklyn
College decades before and became the oldest incoming student in the university’s history. And
in the process, he’s gained a lot of admirers among the traditional 18-to-22-year-old college set.

“I think only Jack can do this; Have we ever met anyone like him?”

Slotnick’s story is one of a decidedly rare bird in the world of academia. According to the
American Association of Retired Persons, only 7% of people over the age of 65 pursue higher
education.

Those who do often enroll to make good use of their time and keep their minds sharp, but that
doesn’t fit Slotnick’s profile: Since joining the freshman class at Lynn, he’s not only declared a
major, but has definite ideas on what to do with his degree.

While still a teen, he became an American war hero, earning a Purple Heart as a member of the
U.S. Army’s 66th Infantry Division during World War II. He was aboard the famed SS
Leopoldville as it carried soldiers toward the Battle of the Bulge when it was attacked by a
German U-boat on Christmas Eve 1944. Some 800 of his fellow soldiers died in the battle.

Now, Slotnick is working toward a psychology degree at Lynn, and plans to counseling today’s
soldiers as they return from Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I think I can relate better to a returning veteran than somebody who has no concept of what
being a soldier is,” tells Slotnick. “Evidently, there's more stress or strain on the soldiers of
today than when I was in the war. There's something drastically wrong with the amount of
suicides (among) the current group of soldiers.

He's the oldest practicing psychologist in US”. He had a few first-day-of school jitters when he
arrived on campus: The first time he walked into class, (othe students) thought he was the
professor.

But being old enough to be those students’ grandpa is nothing compared to the feelings of
inadequacy he felt among the retirees! “Everybody I know has one or two degrees, so I looked
in the mirror and I said, ‘You're really a dumb-dumb. You don’t have a degree,’ Far from being
a dumb-dumb, Lynn University professor Susan Egan Norstrom says Slotnick is someone
students on the Lynn campus and beyond can look to for inspiration.

“I think she’s saying that I’m older, but I’m active and I've a good mind,” Slotnick said of
Norstrom.

--
Subrahmanian S.H.

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