Overcame Formidable Obstacles
"The story of my life is coming from behind," says Roger Cooke. He has now gotten ahead. In the space of a week in summer, 2001, he finished a BS in Biochemistry at UNCG. He began work toward a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology at Wake Forest University, with a full fellowship in the Biomedical Sciences Program at Bowman Gray. And he got married.
The obstacles Roger has overcome to reach this point have been formidable. He left school in the 11th grade and joined the army, although he had been a good high school student. Ten years later, with a GED, he enrolled at UNCG for the first time as an adult student, initially taking a part-time, provisional load. Again he did well in school, but decided about halfway thorough his degree to put education on hold, start a construction firm, and make some money.
It was almost 15 years before he got back to UNCG's classrooms and a lot had happened. His business incurred big losses early on which took years to recoup. Even more significantly he was struck by a debilitating illness, gouty arthritis, that forced him to spend about 10 out of every 30 days in bed and made it impossible to sustain his business. Efforts to continue schooling ended in withdrawals. "I was relegated to social services," he recalls, dependent on Medicaid and food stamps.
"No Education, No Future"
Roger remembers seeing the billboards proclaiming, "No Education, No Future." "I was constantly reminded that I'd blown my chance for an education," he says. The side effects from his medication left him discouraged and depressed as well. "It was a dark, gloomy time of life," he recalls.
He started back to school at Alamance Community College, working toward a two-year Biotechnology degree, not confident that he could finish a four-year program. When Vocational Rehabilitation finally approved him for support for a bachelor's degree, he returned to UNCG and things began to turn around. "They gave me a shot," he said, but it still wasn't easy. "I spent 60% of my time on my college work and 40% explaining why I was out," he says of the struggle to manage an illness that can incapacitate him unpredictably.
Received Help from Many Sources
Roger gives credit to many people and organizations at UNCG who've provided essential help. "I don't think I'd have made it through without the faith and efforts of a lot of people who helped me," he affirms.
He got help from professors who worked with him on deadlines and let him take Incompletes if absolutely necessary. "They all know me at the Student Health Center," he smiles, and at the Psychology Clinic, where he got invaluable assistance in managing the mood swings brought on by his medication. His new wife Viki has been a mainstay throughout his successful return to school.
Roger is convinced that if students have problems, there is "somewhere on this campus a way to resolve them" if people seek help. "No one knows better than I do," he says. "Sometimes adults feel that the university is geared to eighteen year olds. That's not the case at UNCG. It's not like that anymore."
Pleased to Give Something Back
Mindful of the support he's received, he is pleased to have given something back to the university community. He has served as an OAS Guide for the Office of Adult Students on campus, helping new adult students make their way into the campus community. For two years he has been president of the American Chemical Society's Student Affiliate Organization, just as he had been president of the academic honorary Phi Theta Kappa at community college.
Thinking of the challenges of his schoolwork, his illness, his activities outside the classroom, and of his determination to spend time with his daughter Mariah, he notes, "It's a good thing I have a knack for chemistry." Surprisingly, though, when asked what classes stand out in his memory, Roger mentions the literature and music courses he took to fulfill general college requirements. "I treasure those liberal arts classes," he affirms. "I'm thankful to have that perspective on the world." He has even found ways to draw Mariah and her new sister Staci into those classes--they have helped him study and on occasion even come to class with him. "I'll miss having liberal arts classes to break the rigor of abstract science," he says.
Completed a Dream
Roger has begun a new treatment, which is not perfectly effective, but is working better than anything else he's tried in 18 years of living with gouty arthritis. He pushed himself to finish four courses and one incomplete in summer school to get the degree done and be able to start his fellowship in the Fall. He looks back with pride and ahead with excitement "After the birth of my daughter, finishing my BS was the second happiest day of my life," Roger says. "I have completed a dream . . . And now I have the chance to make a reasonable living for myself and my family, doing something I love that will apply beneficially to society. I will be able to give something back. I'll never take it for granted."
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Page updated: 06-May-2009
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