My Ithaca College Story: The ICC Experience

As I sit down to try to boil down my experience here at Ithaca College, I find it difficult to put

into words what my time here has meant to me. I am a non-traditional student who had decided

to return to school after nearly 30 years. While for some, this decision would not be scary; for

me, I was petrified. I completed my associate degree at Tompkins Cortland Community College

by attending a hybrid of in-person and online courses, which slowly allowed me to integrate back

into an organized learning environment. However, after graduating with a Liberal Art's degree

from a local community college, I decided that I wanted to continue my education, receive my

bachelor's degree, and finally, my master's degree in Physician Assistant studies. These

decisions led to more contemplation of which school I would attend, how much would be

finishing my undergraduate degree cost my family, how much time would be spent away from

my family, and the biggest question: Can I do it? I figured the best way to answer these

questions would be to treat the experience as if I was a high school graduate, visiting potential

colleges and universities to find the best one for me.

First, I spoke with my wife and children about being away from the house for most of the day

and how much this venture would cost. As I had expected, they were all supportive and became

my biggest cheerleaders. With my family fully behind me, the time came to visit schools, and to

be completely honest, Ithaca College wasn't on the list. I felt as though I would have to find a

state school that would take all of the credits that I had earned from community college, offer

more scholarships, and be more accepting of my age. While working in Tompkins County as a
law enforcement officer for 20 years, I can tell you that I had never run into an Ithaca College

student who was in the same age range as I am. After visiting SUNY Cortland and Upstate

Medical University, both of which are fine institutions, I came home feeling that those two

schools were not what I was looking for. I thought about giving up on the dream and just

retiring.

Then came a day in July 2019, when I was coaching a travel softball team that my youngest

daughter was on. I spoke to some of the girls' parents on the team, some of whom I was

speaking to for the first time. One of the mothers congratulated me on graduating from TC3 and

asked me if I would continue with my education. As I answered her about my plans and how I

didn't feel comfortable with the two schools that I had visited, another mother approached me

and said, "have you thought about going to IC?" I said, "no way, that's a private school, way too

expensive, and I don't think they would take the credits that I have already earned." She told me

that she was confident that not only would Ithaca College accept my credits, but they have

numerous scholarships to help with tuition. She said, "I think you should go and talk to someone

in financial aid and at the Registrar's office about the credit evaluation. I am sure it will be worth

your time." I said, "o.k., the worst thing they can say is no, right?"

The next day, I called the Registrar's office and made an appointment for the next Monday.

When the day arrived, my wife and I drove over to the college, which is about a 15-minute ride

from my house. We walked into the building, went up to the 2nd floor, and entered the

Registrar/Financial aid office. I was immediately met by a woman named Holly, who greeted

me with a big smile on her face. I handed her my transcript from TC3 along with my Joint

Service Transcript from my time in the military. Holly said that she believed that she could find

a way to accept most, if not all, of the credits that I have earned, but it would take her some time
to go through my transcripts. She asked us to have a seat, and she would be back with us shortly.

About a minute or two later, the parent who had convinced me to visit IC walked into the room.

I said, "what are you doing here? Did I talk you into going back to school too?" She quickly said,

"no, Pete, you have a meeting with me. I am the Registrar here at Ithaca College." Surprised is

too mild of a description of how I felt. I had no idea that she was Vikki Levine, the Ithaca

College Registrar. After a few minutes of laughing about the situation, we entered her office,

talked about how the softball team was doing and the weather; and then we started to talk about

the Ithaca College experience. Vikki sold me on Ithaca College by explaining how Ithaca

College readily accepts non-traditional students and transfer students who come from community

colleges all over New York. She explained to me how Ithaca College is a family and how

students, staff, and faculty all strive to provide an educational atmosphere that is conducive to all

manners of learning, all of the academic services that were available for students, and how Ithaca

College is invested in my success just as much as I am invested in Ithaca College. I thank her for

meeting with us, walked out of her office and into the elevator, turned to my wife, and said,

"Yep, this is where I want to go." My wife said, "let's make it happen."

Fast-forward to August 28, 2019, my Ithaca College experience began. Full of excitement, and

fear, I walked into my first class, picked out my seat right in the front row, set out my notebook,

pencils, and highlighters. I was ready to go, but my class didn't start for another 20 minutes. I

sat in the classroom, alone, wondering if I should leave and come back, but my other classmates

soon arrived. After we sat in the classroom for a few minutes, I started to talk to them. I asked

the general questions like what year they were, their majors, and where they were from? This

broke the ice, and before we knew it, we were all talking about what we thought the semester
would be like, what we hoped to get out of the IC experience, and what we planned to do after

graduation (even though that was a long way off.)

At 5 minutes of 8 in the morning, my first professor walked into the classroom. She was

smiling, said hello to all of us, and welcomed us to the class. We went around the room,

introduced ourselves, identified our majors, and what our plans were. We were given a syllabus,

and the professor explained what the semester would be like. She was so upbeat and positive

that it was infectious and set the tone for the rest of my day. The class ended early, and I was off

to my next class, which was chemistry. I entered the room, again a bit earlier than my

classmates, except for one. I immediately recognized her from the previous class. I re-

introduced myself to her and asked if she would like to sit together. She said yes, and that

moment began a friendship that has lasted throughout our time at Ithaca College. Although we

do not have any course together this semester, we remain in contact and discuss our classes. We

often discuss our ICC competencies and what our experiences are like. It has become a

friendship that I am sure will carry on for the rest of our lives.

These first day experiences did not stop during my time at Ithaca College, and although I did not

find all of my classes enjoyable or useful for my future education or employment, but I was able

to form lasting bonds with both students and professors that will no doubt help me along my

journey to becoming a physician assistant and beyond. I find that the major takeaway from my

time at Ithaca College has been that during these uncertain times, there has always been a

constant, Ithaca College is a family that will strive to do what is best. I have enjoyed my time

here and have appreciated all the support I have given to reach all of my goals.

As I continued to navigate my time at Ithaca College, I continued to connect with students,

faculty, and staff members. I can't help but think back to my beginnings here at IC. At first, I
had a small circle of acquaintances that I trusted, with whom I would collaborate on projects,

homework, and papers, sort of like how Robert De Niro character explained the "circle of trust"

to Ben Stiller's character in Meet the Fockers "inside the circle are people you trust, while

outside the circle are the people you don't." I initially kept my circle small, but the circle grew

and grew into more of a web over time. Much like how a molecule can attach itself to another

molecule, then to another, and another, and can keep growing until it makes a stable and useful

molecule, my network of connections has helped me grow into the confident and stable student

that I am today. As I near graduation and the possibility of attending graduate school for

physician assistant, I can't help but feel that I am more than ready to allow more "molecules' to

attach and for my network to grow exponentially. As someone who is a sufferer of Post-

Traumatic Stress Syndrome, I found that making new connections with people I barely know has

been a trust issue. My time here at Ithaca College has changed me in that I am now more open to

making those connections, allowing myself to be more open and vulnerable, and more trusting of

my environment, classmates and professors. This has further allowed me to be more comfortable

when I am out in town and among large groups of people, which in the past has been a trigger for

me.

Now, whoever is reading this might be asking, "this has nothing to do with the ICC," and I

would have to argue that it does. Allow me to take you inside of my mind for a moment. As I

mentioned, I suffer from PTSD, and this causes me to be hypervigilant. It starts as I am driving

to the college, which some people may say, "yeah, that stresses me out too" however; for me,

driving to campus entails taking a new route every day (so that I don't feel like I am being

followed), checking side streets, and noticing new things alongside the roadways which in my

mind could always be an IED. Once I make it to campus, I must enter the building, which means
that I have to check as much of the building's perimeter as I can, checking windows and

doorways for potential ambushes. Now, let me go back for a moment; before the first day of

class, I have to go to all of the buildings to conduct reconnaissance, which means that I have to

identify all of the entry and exits of the building, where the staircases are, where the elevators

are, and where are places that would provide cover and concealment. Once I am in the building,

now I must walk through the hallways, with all of the people in them. I am continuously

checking all around me, checking open doors (which I know probably looks creepy to those

people in that office or classroom), and watching the people in front of me for any sudden

movements.

I finally make it to class, which I must get to early and be the first person in the room. This can

be not easy if there is a class in the room before my class, but I usually get in the room first after

everyone leaves. This allows me the opportunity to surveil the room and look for anything that

seems to be out of place, like a backpack that was left behind. This also allows me to see where

the windows are, how they work, and the sightlines outside of the window. I then pick my seat,

closest to the door, in the front row, so that I can watch who is entering the room and so that I

can be the first person to the door to close it if there was an incident to occur. After my

classmates arrive and take their seats, I have to see who is there and where they are sitting (and

in my mind, beg them not to change seats next time they are in the classroom).

This all must happen in a short amount of time, and to be honest, I have no idea that I am doing

any of this. I may appear to my classmates and instructors that I am happy to be in the class and

engaged, when in fact, my mind is running 100 mph, going through numerous scenarios that

"could" happen.
Now, I can bring it all together into how the ICC prepared me for furthering my education and,

eventually, my career as a physician assistant.

In my Critical Health Issues course, we were assigned to small groups and asked to complete a

project relating to the social determinants of health that are standing in the way of equal access to

health care. During this project, I was able to make new connections and become comfortable

with being in groups of people that I didn't know, but more than that, I learned how different

people have a different perspective on how to bridge the gaps in access to quality health care. I

also learned that there are many under-represented populations in the county that I live in.

Before this course, I had never thought about what those people had to see a healthcare provider

regularly. I came to Ithaca College with the intent of becoming a physician assistant who

specialized in orthopedics. After all that I have learned in the Critical Health Issues course, I

have committed myself to becoming a physician assistant in family medicine that works in a

rural, medically underserved community.

After Critical Health Issues, I attended a Health Research and Analysis course, which taught me

how to find literature on health-related issues, decipher the literature, and apply what I learned in

the literature. The knowledge that I gained from this course has allowed me to investigate

further and conduct research into the causes of illnesses, treat those illnesses, and prevent those

illnesses. More than that, this course also broadened my base of knowledge into those illnesses

and diseases that are being suffered by the medically underserved populations. When I couple

this information with what I have learned from Critical Health Issues, there is no doubt that I am

better prepared to be a conscientious, compassionate, and confident health care provider.

During my last semester, I had several opportunities to be a team member on different projects

for different course. In my Acute Care of Athletic Injuries course, myself and another classmate
were a team that chose to discuss how to treat open skin wounds in athletes in order to reduce

infections. In my Legal and Ethical Issues course, I was assigned to a team that worked on a

topic that included health care policy and reform. In my Leadership course, I was randomly

assigned to a group of students from other disciplines with in the health care fields, and we were

asked to create a video about interprofessional teams are used to better identify health care issues

and come up with a solution to those issues. Also, in my Leadership course, I volunteered to be

a part of a team that took on a project in order to help another department of the college to come

up with an idea to help with students who live off campus to maintain a feeling of community

with the college. My experiences throughout my time at Ithaca College and in the ICC ensured

that I was well prepared to work as part of a collaborative team, both inside of my discipline and

with members of other disciplines. I was able to take a leadership role on some of the teams and

a more subordinate role on others. I ensured that my ideas and voice was heard on all of my

teams and together we produced well designed, clear, and concise reports, presentations, and

projects. Along with that, I made lasting friendships and professional connections that will assist

me in my future employment.

As I prepare to graduate and look toward attending a Graduate school, I have the opportunity to

look back and see that Ithaca College and the ICC experience allowed me to learn more about

myself, much more about the social determinants of health that create barriers to the access

quality health care, and above all, what kind of health care provider that I want to become. I

learn how to overcome Through the ICC experience; I learned how to become a better student

and a better classmate, a better advocate for myself and others, and a better leader, ultimately

allowing me to become a better provider. It is an experience that will/has become the foundation

for the rest of my life.