This is the fourth college I’ve attended but the first time I’ve felt right at home. Immaculata University is a small college located in the hills of South-Eastern Pennsylvania.

Offering over 60 undergraduate degrees and more than 12 graduate degrees, it’s a beautiful campus, staffed with caring and intelligent educators who have been incredibly accommodating to my unique situation as an overly tasked adult in a daytime undergraduate program.

After my initial cognitive resistance to higher education was subdued, I found the prospect of returning to school exciting. I looked through the degrees and thought that exercise science would benefit me as I built my bicycle repair business, Redemption Bikes.

College has changed formats a bit since I first attended a quarter century ago. The combination of online and in class work makes sense because it’s how we now interface with life but I had to overcome the learning curve with the school’s software interface. As I age, I’m working to keep or enhance my neuroplasticity but the after effects of being around so many explosions has decreased my organizational skills.

When I started writing this post last semester I had just began my journey at IU. As you can see by the lack of posting here on Mental Grenade, my free time dropped to zero. I spent about two weeks in the exercise science major before I realized that it was not a good fit. While exploring the “What If” option in the Degree Works program, I discovered the major I should have chosen(and managed to switch to): Interactive Digital Media.

IDM encompasses everything I’ve already been doing with creating websites, writing, and photography and has pushed me to learn new things. Much of my work with Mental Grenade and FOB Truth has been useful for understanding class material and used as assignments. In fact, this very blog post is part of an assignment for “Writing for the Web.” (Although it didn’t start that way. It’s been in draft for over 6 months and I just haven’t gotten to it.)

The student population last semester felt small but exploded this fall with over 400 new freshmen arriving. The faculty seem to be too few and spread thin but they do their best with what they have. The campus is slowly being updated with certain areas receiving a technological “shot in the arm.”

I hope to revitalize Mental Grenade and bring new material, in updated formats to the site. It’ll be a slow roll out because my focus is on Fundamentals of Biblical (FOB) Truth and my ministry to veterans and first responders. FOB Truth is my life’s calling but college is another phase of preparation. I’m learning better methods and class work is leading me to do my own research on adjacent topics that improve my overall knowledge and performance.

Four college tries

Liberty University -2000

I didn’t want to go to school but my father worked as an accountant at the university so tuition was free. Despite my desire to join the Marine Corps as a grunt after graduation, I went to college because my mother asked me to. I met my wife, Misty, first semester and by second semester I entered the Delayed Entry Program (Feb 2001) and shipped September 17, 2001 (6 days after the towers fell).
The only real class I took was developmental psychology – everything else was music and electives. Because of Misty, I changed my desired job in the Corps and became a musician my first enlistment.

Devry Online -2007

At this point I had changed jobs in the Marine Corps and was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician. I was considering becoming a civilian and doing construction. (I think I have ADD) I thought that if I got a network engineering degree I could help design and install the network infrastructure in new building construction. Unfortunately, I started this around the same time I was sent to Staff Academy and so I was in military school all day and online school all night. I burned out quickly and decided to stay in the Corps.

Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology-2015

I was medically retired from the Marine Feb of 2014 and went to Automotive Training Center for a year and a half, earning a trade certificate in Auto/Diesel but that’s not a “degree.” The world doesn’t seem to respect the commitment it takes to excel at a clock hour school that runs year round and is physically and mentally demanding. Anyway, I finished ATC and then immediately started at TSCT for an associates in Welding and Fabrication. I was still struggling with PTSD and my physical health. I made a teacher and a few students cry and quit after one semester. I started working with some nonprofits and attended several intensive programs designed to turn traumatic stress into post traumatic growth.

Immaculata University – 2024

It happened last October that the wife and I were coming back from the beach and got to talking…
Now I’m a “junior” (but that doesn’t mean that I’ll be graduating next year – I need to take my time) because of all the credits I transferred. I’m trying to make the most of this experience. Like always, my brain is fighting against some of the assignments I feel are not helping me.

I struggle with the desire to fully immerse myself in the college life I skipped when I joined the Corps but have to face the reality that I’m a father of a college senior, high school senior & junior, a small business owner (which I mostly shut down because of school), and nonprofit president. I’m constantly switching roles and putting out the hottest fire at the moment.

I’m going to college with young men and women that are the ages of my children. One might think that it would make me feel old, but it doesn’t. My body already feels old from past abuse (and the surgeries that followed) but my mind feels young.

I do feel at peace on campus. It’s a quiet space hidden inside the busy urban sprawl. The buildings and trees are mature and don’t reek of the technological hurry and worry society is currently mired in. I recognize I ended the last sentence with a preposition but this is a blog and not academic writing. No one really cares TBH… am I right? (Let me know in the comments)

This time I will prevail. I am committed to completing this degree. I have a greater sense of direction in life and have chosen this path. It helps that the GI Bill housing stipend for this school is decent and allowing my family to do some renovations on our 1700’s stone farm house.

Education is what you make of it. In some classes I may not learn a ton but it drives me to do research in adjacent subjects to improve my skills and work flows. I’m looking at things differently and refining my writing, speaking, and online creation.
As a protestant, I find the iconography of Catholicism fascinating and there is much to see at Immaculata.

All of the photos in this post were taken last semester during my “Cell phone photography” class with an iPhone.
I’ll try and keep you updated on life and push some controversial ideas out there as well.

-Drew Out!

Drew founded Mental Grenade Jan 2020. He is a follower of Jesus Christ, a medically retired Marine, EOD Tech, husband, father, writer, mountain biker, photographer, facilitator, and fly-fisherman. He seeks to bridge the civilian – military divide and bring hope through honest communication about difficult issues.

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