Philip "Phil" D. O'Keefe

I chose to attend the City College of New York to take a couple of business accounting courses. I was working and going to school at the time. My professors were very challenging, but I loved my experience there. I felt that they were very good and excellent. I do remember my statistics teacher who was also the graduate student teacher. I had been working in construction in an Irish union for a while, and then backpacked through Europe. I had money in my pocket from construction, and I dated a girl who was dancing in a show, playing dinner theaters. They needed a stage manager. I took a federal civil service test and I was offered a job with the social security administration. Since I grew up in a poor neighborhood, I was comfortable with poor people and I recognized their needs, so I had an opportunity to work in a poor neighborhood in the Bronx and felt really useful there. What I appreciate the most about CCNY was the fact that it gave somebody like me an opportunity who couldn't afford to go to any other college. It also provided me with a very challenging, thorough, and complete education.