While attending St. John’s University in 1990 as a criminal
justice major, Patrick Conlon ’08C, made the heroic decision to
serve his country in the U.S. military and put his education on
hold. After two major deployments to the Middle East, Patrick
returned to the states and moved with his wife to Albany, NY where
he cared for his ailing father. He felt his dream of graduating
from St. John’s University would never be achieved having moved
away from New York City, “I was extremely disappointed that I never
finished my criminal justice degree that I started at St. John’s so
long ago.”
It wasn’t until 2005, that Patrick discovered his goal of
attaining his criminal justice degree from St. John’s College of
Professional Studies was still possible: “My brother explained to
me that through the distance learning program, a degree at St.
John’s would still be attainable. So, I made the phone call that
allowed me to now be a graduate of the University.”
Having left college 15 years ago, Patrick was unsure whether he
would be able to keep up with the younger students in his class and
decided he would begin one class at a time: “I enrolled in one
online class to see if I was capable. Not only was I capable but I
aced the course. I found that my fears of falling
behind were irrelevant. The doubt in my ability to excel was
abolished; I was officially back in St. John’s.”
Patrick feels a degree from a renowned University, like St.
John’s, has its benefits: “You can go anywhere in the country and
people know of St. John’s. That is definitely one of the things I
love about having graduated from there. When people ask me where I
got my degree from and I can respond with ‘St. Johns University,’ I
feel a sense of pride. I have always viewed a degree from St.
John’s as a huge achievement.”
What Patrick values most about the University is the small
community feel, “The thing I love most about St. John’s is that you
feel like you are a part of something. It is a place where you want
to contribute; a place where the professors know who you are and
expect great things from you.”
Patrick sees law school in his near future and is currently
studying for the LSAT while working as a Field Technician for
Verizon Telecommunications. Having met his goal of attaining
his degree from St. John’s, he is very optimistic about the
direction in which his life is heading, “This degree is opening
doors that would normally not be available. After completing a
degree which I thought would be forever out of reach, I know the
future holds great things for me.”