Sam Vaccaro:
CLASS OF 1963
South Mountain High SchoolClass of 1963
Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix CollegeClass of 1966
Phoenix, AZ
Sunland Elementary SchoolClass of 1959
Phoenix, AZ
Roosevelt Elementary SchoolClass of 1952
Phoenix, AZ
Lincoln Elementary SchoolClass of 1951
Niles, OH
Sam's Story
Life
It's been a long time since I experienced the vigor and energy of my youth. I was a bit on the excitable side and always up for anything. And, I hope that holds true now however, at a much lower risk level. I know that South Phoenix has changed a great deal since the 60s but, I still get a warm feeling when I think of the memories and friends that I had back in those, all too short, days of my teens. I also remember that we lived in a community that was in the security shadow of South Mountain and when I gaze over at the mountain, and those red-topped, blinking towers, when flying into Phoenix from some distant place, that sight makes me feel at home again, as I suspect it does for you. Old Phoenix College is the memory I have, not the new one. I remember when a student was able to run wild with ideas and literally on campus, go to class with a melting pot of Phoenix idealists, study in the library, dance on the patio on a Friday afternoon, go to the games on Saturdays and dances in the cafeteria. The cafeteria, where everybody gathered between and after classes and where the roast beef on bread stuck to you like one of Dean Kirk's looks. Is she still watching? What about the hollow feeling you got when you left campus. I'll bet, like me, you couldn't wait to get back, to feel home again at PC. ASU, what an enormous site as you came around Old Apache Blvd. and saw the Frank Lloyd Wright designed, ultra-modern Grady Gammage Auditorium. All those gigantic buildings and lecture halls. Am I just going to be a number here? Well, maybe, but a number that can add up to something you never thought you would total. I received a well-rounded, liberal edu...Expand for more
cation in Sun Devil country and, in the process, met life-long friends from all over the U.S. and the world. There is where I became my own person, grew up and developed a clear direction in life. I still go there, occasionally, to get my fair share of awe struck amazement. Just walk around any part of campus and, you'll get goose bumps too. Pepperdine, at the time, located in downtown Los Angeles, just prior to its' move to the opulence of Malibu, was a small university in population, but big in academic stature. Fortunate to get accepted, I quickly found that size doesn't matter in terms of academic excellence. The small and intimate class-size provided an environment of personalized instruction that was virtually unachievable in the mega-university setting. Pepperdine is where I learned about survival as a student, quality of character as the important human condition and diversity of thought, beliefs and practice as the premise for effective problem-solving. There is where I discovered my personal philosophy and practice for understanding and impacting human behavior. My thinking and behavior changed as I learned that; thinking and behavior can change. My career involving the treatment and programming of individuals started in 1974, with the State of Arizona, and hasn't ended yet, even though 1999 marked my retirement from state service. I continue to work on programming, writing and problem-solving the human condition and, still haven't found the search to be finite or conclusive. Seeking the elusive destination, it is the journey of mistakes and successes that becomes the key to understanding. Everything is a learning experience.
The Best,
Sam
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