Iris F. Waddell

Initially I was working for the City of New York at the time, and the union was willing to give us tuition assistance. However as soon as I enrolled, I got promoted to managerial and there went my union and my assistance. I had two brothers who had gone, but they didn't get to finish. I had a family, a full-time job, and I went to school part-time. It was something I wanted to do for myself. It was not about my job. It was what I wanted to do and the achievement I wanted to accomplish took me eight years at night. I have since come out of the city area into a more rural area. I came as a pastor actually, because after I got my BA, I went for a master's of divinity. I retired from my city job. They've made it possible for me to go into graduate school. When I got called into the ministry, it was inquired that I have a graduate degree in order to get my ordination. If I hadn't gone to CCNY, I wouldn't have been prepared to go further. It was an experience. To be the first in my family to have completed it, even at an adult age, helped me because I had a son who was also going to college and I was on the Dean's List and he wasn't. I had bragging rights. It was a rewarding experience and I'm glad I did it when I did because I got married out of high school at a young age. I graduated in June 1963 and I started back at CCNY in January 1984.