Rick Taylor:
CLASS OF 1974
Troy High SchoolClass of 1974
Troy, MI
Shippensburg UniversityClass of 1978
Shippensburg, PA
Cumberland Valley High SchoolClass of 1974
Mechanicsburg, PA
Smith Middle SchoolClass of 1970
Troy, MI
Niles Elementary SchoolClass of 1968
Troy, MI
Rick's Story
Life
Please note: I had moved to Pennsylvania in October '72, during our Junior Year. I wonder what has happened to many of guys/gals. pls email.
School
An exerpt from a letter of intent to attend Duquesne University.
One major impact in my life took place when my father left the family business and took a sales representative position in which his territory was Central Pennsylvania. The timing of the move took place during October of 1972, my junior year of high school. I had left my friends that I had known all my life and had to adapt to very unfamiliar surroundings. I was able to make friends with almost anyone and most groups or cliques of people accepted me. I also had a wild hair idea that I wanted everyone to know who I was, so I ran for student council president. I didnÂt win but it accomplished two goals. One goal was to achieve name recognition, which was accomplished by plastering my name all over the school. And the other was that I had to speak to over two thousand of my peers in a speech. Without my father making a life altering change, I may not have been as outgoing as I am today.
My life experiences in business started around the age of 10 when I helped my father in the familyÂs appliance store in Royal Oak, Michigan. There I started to learn about the art of the sales and servicing customers. While still in school, I had taken up many other positions, which helped me grow in knowledge, as well as a person. Several summers I worked for my grandfather in home construction. I also worked in a friend of the familyÂs jewelry store selling and repairing jewelry. Later I worked at an Agway store making animal feed and building swimming...Expand for more
pools. Another interesting summer job was to work for a school district painting the school and distributing school supplies. I took advantage of the many opportunities I found as a teenager to learn many different jobs.
After my year at Shippensburg State College, I found a direction that my life would partake on. Though it started out in broadcast radio as an on-air disk jockey, it took me into electronics. During a number of my jobs, I have worked on aircraft, broadcast, and two-way radios. During a hiatus from my electronics jobs, I worked as a warehouse manager for a tuxedo rental company. After which I installed burglar and fire alarm systems for another company. I completed my foray into electronics when I moved on to an industrial electronics company working on and designing wiring kits for electric vehicles of all sizes.
While at the electric vehicle controls company, I picked up the hobby of computer programming that ended up turning into a new occupation. I picked up programming in th Basic language on my own. Later I took a course on Cobol programming at the Vo-Tech school that my employer offered to pay for. Soon afterwards, my employer approached me to work on their computers and a new direction in my life began.
Over the years, I have matured as a manager and a person while being a programmer and supporting computer related operations. My current position for Highmark is the manager of a help desk that services about 5,000 calls a month with 15 staff members. With the assistance of many hours in training from Highmark, the continuation my education and the learning from life experiences, I will continue to grow as a person and a mentor.
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
