Interview with Mark J. Potter

Karen Blair: Mr. Potter, thank you very much for your willingness to come and share with us your preparation in teacher ed at Towson and your subsequent career. We are putting together an oral history, which we hope will show the evolution of teacher education across time at Towson, and your story will certainly add to that history. I think a good place to begin is at the beginning. So why don't I ask you first to tell us a little bit about your early social context? Where you grew up, what kinds of things you were thinking about as you got older in terms of a career, when you first considered teaching and why you chose Towson University. Mark Potter: I was born in Baltimore, Maryland back in the early 60's. I grew up in a neighborhood called Gardenville, which is in Northeast Baltimore. I'm three-fourths Italian, so being an Italian family is important. I spent a lot of time in the Highlandtown section with my father's side of the family and Little Italy with my mother's side of the family. So, I would describe my childhood as memorable and one that I cherish. I have three brothers. We had, I would say, a fantastic childhood. I went to elementary school at Saint Anthony Padua in Gardenville, which is no longer there actually. As far back as I can remember I wanted to be a teacher. Some influences there--I always had great teachers. As a matter a fact, I can still name all of my teachers from elementary school. They were that influential. I really enjoyed it. I made a lot of friends and so forth. Also, I was involved in Boy Scouts. As I worked my way through the Boy Scouts and became a patrol leader, there was a lot of communication of ideas and so forth to the other scouts. I found that I enjoyed that. I enjoyed interacting with people and imparting knowledge and trading back and forth. I also remember having a club. It was called Club American Style. It sounded a lot better back then. One of the things that I set up was a little school in the garage of the house. I always enjoyed that. And then, when I moved on to Archbishop Curley High School as a student, again, I had fantastic teachers. One in particular was a history teacher by the name of E. Patrick Maloney. He just loved history, especially American history. When you left his class, you were disappointed. You wanted to go back in. He was that good. I had come from a family that cherished history. My parents are very much into history. We were exposed to history growing up. We were taken constantly to historic sites throughout the country. So it was something that was important to my family and also to me. After Curley, I of course needed to make a selection of a university. And frankly, back then my parents had funded, if you will, my twelve years of catholic education, but we were on our own after that. My choices were somewhat limited; the whole financial aid and going away to school and those sorts of things was just foreign to us. My choices were really Towson or UMBC. At the time, the Fort McHenry Tunnel had not been completed, so in order to get to UMBC you'd have to drive through Baltimore, through town to get there. Towson was my first choice. Thankfully, I was accepted in the fall of 1980 and began my four years here. K.B.: Tell us a little bit about those four years, more specifically, obviously your course work in history and in the sciences, but also a little bit about your education courses. When you're talking about the education courses, I think, perhaps, things have changed over time. Did you have an opportunity, for example, to go out and see schools and teachers teaching before you actually did your very own student teaching? Do you think those education courses were more theoretical or practical in their . . .? M.P.: I think Towson was a different place in 1980. I think the school was experiencing growing pains, if you will. For me, as a commuter student, I would love to say it was a fantastic experience. But while it was a great experience in the classroom, outside the classroom not so much. That was largely due to the fact that, frankly, I had to go to work. I had three different jobs working through college. It was a bit difficult. That commuter experience greatly limited my involvement in other activities here. It was really focused on just what was going on in the classroom. And for me, that meant a major in history. At that time, if I recall, you majored in your subject area and then Secondary Education was a program. I had taken both history courses and education courses in those four years. I can't tell you how much I appreciated the experience in the classroom. The teachers here at that time were just phenomenal. I'm sure they still are. Some of the teachers for history, the professors Mitchell Kerr, Harry Piotrowski, Wayne McWilliams, Arman Mruck. I could go on and on. They were just outstanding historians. I just couldn’t get enough of it. And then on the education side, Dr. Gloria Neubert, Michael Jessup, Jim Lawlor. They were just fantastic professors that were able to convey the knowledge that we needed to succeed outside of the college. Now, in terms of teacher prep, I had several experiences. One was unique, I think. In junior year, we did go out to Loch Raven Middle School. I believe it was a six-week program where we would simply observe the classroom teacher. Eventually, student teaching. I'll get to that in a moment. I had a unique opportunity at the end of my junior year. The Principal of Curley High School called me and said that one of the teachers left unexpectedly, and they needed someone to sub. I had just completed . . . Towson always ended in early May. It was a full month, so I said, “Sure.” I came in, and that gave me invaluable experience coming right in and right away jumping in and actually using the information that I just learned and having a practical experience with that. That was great. Finally, senior year, the student teaching experience. I student taught at Ridgely Middle School. Ridgely, I don't know if it's the same case today, but the profile for the school I would say was affluent, the environment around Ridgely. The students were very well prepared. The parents were very involved. It was my first experience in a public school since Ms. Dishler's kindergarten class at Gardenville Elementary. That was interesting to actually see students without ties and those pants, skirt things, that they make catholic school girls wear. I had a fantastic supervising teacher, Terry Bressler. He just gave me the ball and said, "Go!" He sat in the back of the classroom. I heard from other friends how it was week three and they were still not up in front of the class and involved. That was not my experience. I think day two he had me up there. The class was mine. I totally enjoyed it. It was just a great experience. I was there in September and actually stayed through Christmas even though I didn't have to. K.B.: Interesting. M.P.: It was funny because Mr. Bressler, two weeks before holiday break, he said, "You want to stay until the end?" I said, “The program is over.” He said, “Stay to the end.” I said, “Why?” He said, “This is a pretty good school. You might reap some benefits.” I didn't understand really what he meant until the day before break, and these gifts kept coming in. It was nice. I still have some of them. It was a great experience. The kids were fantastic. I learned a lot. No offense to the program itself at Towson, but there is no substitution for actually standing up there and doing it. You can learn about things in class and textbooks, but until you're standing there with 30 students looking at you, there is just no experience like it. K.B.: Fortunately, you had the Archbishop Curley substituting experience. M.P.: The experience at Curley junior year had helped, but this was such a different experience. Those students were juniors and it was all male. This was seventh grade. K.B.: You had a sense, at least an initial sense, that might have given you a red flag that it wasn't something that you enjoyed doing. When you went into your student teaching, it was still something you wanted to do? M.P.: Absolutely. I just simply could not imagine picking another career. I just totally loved it. The student teaching experience just confirmed for me all of my feelings pertaining to the profession. Again, I had a great experience. I cannot think of a single instance where I came home and said, "Oh, no. I just don't want to do this." Every day it was better, because Mr. Bressler was so good, and he wanted you to succeed and he helped you to succeed. He also, from a career standpoint, was just as helpful. He made sure that, I believe it was the department chairperson or the chairperson for Social Studies for the county, came in to view me as well as several other people. In fact, I had my choice of positions the following summer. He was very good. K.B.: By the end of your career here, you're just about ready to graduate; you're feeling very confident, fairly confident about going into a teaching position? M.P.: I would describe myself as probably fairly insecure. In my view, nobody’s going to want me. At that time, I was working as a loan counselor at the State Employees' Credit Union in Towson. Back then, it was this little small operation. They offered me a position in April. K.B.: April of your senior year? M.P.: April of my senior year. Fulltime position. I had worked there part time. Interestingly enough, and college students don't normally have this experience, but Hoke Smith, the President of the university actually came in. Unbeknownst to him, I gave him a car loan, which was kind of cool. Anyway, they offered me a position. I still remember it was $10,600. Later on after graduation, I was offered a position in Baltimore County and I believe Baltimore City. I don't totally recall that. But Curley called, and I wanted to go back home. The salary was $10,300. I reminded the principal that I took a pay cut to go there. In the fall of 1984, I came back home and began my career at Curley High School. K.B.: You were teaching history? M.P.: My first year it was a hodge podge. I taught American History to sophomores, Geography and Economics to juniors and seniors and English to sophomores. The Geography and Economics class was interesting because the students were seniors. I just remember them being big. This is an all-male school. I'm 22 years old, right out of college, and I was a lot smaller then. It was intimidating. K.B.: I guess so. M.P.: They were 17 and 18 years old. That first year was a challenging year, coming right out of college and thrown into that setting. It was a challenge. Discipline was a challenge. Classroom management. There was a lot going on. K.B.: Interesting. That is often a concern for beginning teachers--“How do I manage a classroom full of kids?” M.P.: And again, it's not an excuse but it was an all-male environment, which makes it a little more . . . I shouldn't say that. I've never taught an all-female environment. But it seemed difficult anyway. The summer between my first and second year I sat back, reflected on the year. I'm probably being too hard on myself. I think it was probably a great year. There were things I wanted to change. And the next year, I made sure that things were better. I had typed out rules and regulations. It felt better. I think the first year, and this happens, I think, to a lot of teachers, you want to be friends with the kids. You don't want them to not like you. They say you don't smile before the holidays. Sometimes that's difficult. But by the second year, I would say I was in command, if that's appropriate. It was there I think things really took off for me from a professional standpoint. I totally enjoyed it. It was a fantastic experience. I was involved in many activities besides the classroom. The school newspaper. I remained active even after I left the classroom, in various clubs and activities, just to sort of stay close to things. It was a different experience. In parochial schools, now this probably has changed, but back then you were handed a textbook. In my case, it was American History. Teach this. It wasn't detailed lesson plans. There wasn't a curriculum guide to go by unless the textbook company provided one. I think it afforded the opportunity for tremendous creativity. K.B.: Indeed, but it also makes it all up to you. M.P.: Right. It's all up to you. K.B.: One of the things that we know now is that for teachers sometimes, no, often or most often, it's helpful to have a senior teacher, a mentor teacher available. Did you feel your first year that there were other teachers you could go to that might have put together that lesson plan? M.P.: Actually, I probably had too many teachers to go to. That was another thing about going back home. I had teachers that had taught me, but I also had teachers that I knew from being a student there. That was kind of an adjustment too. I found out that some of the teachers that I held so close to my heart when I noticed their behavior in the faculty lounge and outside the class, I was like "hmm." On the other hand, there were teachers, as a student I was like they're strict and I didn't like them, that were just fantastic people outside the classroom. That was different. I can only speak for myself. I was a very proud person. It was the unwillingness to seek help, I think. K.B.: But you worked it out? M.P.: Yes. As I mentioned, I'm probably being too hard on myself. For me, I just remember that first year. It was an incredible year. It was an exhausting year. K.B.: Yes. M.P.: Very exhausting. K.B.: Yes. I think that's true of every first year teacher. If they don't say that, I'm not certain that they're being candid about it. It doesn't matter what kind of support you put in place; it's hard. M.P.: It is what you put into it. K.B.: You also had different preparations. It wasn't like you were teaching history to five or six different classes. You said you were teaching economics and business or whatever. M.P.: It was economics and geography. Why those two went together I do not know. It was a great experience. I can say that. You had asked a question before about practical versus theoretical. The history preparation here was phenomenal. The Secondary Ed prep I think was excellent. It wasn't until graduate school that I really appreciated the Towson experience. As I mentioned, in the early 80's Towson's population was just booming. Most of the classes, whether it was secondary ed or history, 30/40 people. For graduate school, it was just perfect. Most of the classes, 12 to 20 people. You had something to talk about. You had shared experiences. Before class was absolutely just great. “How did you handle this?” It was such a wonderful experience, graduate school. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I reconnected with Towson in a positive way. As a result, I became involved with the Alumni Association. K.B.: Which is wonderful! How long did you remain in the classroom? How long were you a teacher? M.P.: I was at Curley High School for 17 years. I taught at least one class for all but one year. For most of the time I was teaching four classes. In the early days of taking on the development responsibilities, I had four. As those responsibilities increased, the teaching decreased. To take a step back to the development, public schools do not have development offices--most of them anyway. For that matter, most did not have alumni offices. In the private schools, that's extremely important, the private fundraising, the alumni and so forth. Those sort of activities had always been in place in colleges and universities, private colleges and universities, but not so much in the high schools and certainly not at my high school. About 1985, we had a principal at the time, Father Gregory Hartmeyer, who was ahead of his time and realized the importance of alumni and development and private fundraising. He came to me one day. Actually, let me take a step back. The school celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 1985 to 1986. They had asked me to work on what was called the Jubilee Book. It was a yearbook for all intent and purposes. I had been the yearbook editor when I was a student. I had made the mistake or it was the best thing that ever happened and I made a profit on the book. At the end of the year, Father Gregory came to me and said, “We would like you to become the school's development director.” I said, “That's interesting. What is it?” He said, “It is marketing, and alumni, and raising money.” I said, “No, I'm not interested.” He said, “It comes with an office and a phone.” For a teacher, that's real power. I said, “Okay, I'll take that.” Little did I know that the office was a cleaned out closet in the basement where they had installed a phone. That side of my career started. It started with the first annual appeal for the school. I kept the proceeds in a notebook. We had so few donors. Our alumni at that time were so young. Our school began in 1962. It was a struggle. That sort of, part of, the career began. The Alumni Association had already been formed. But I think we took it to the next level. We started having pretty intense activities. Attendance picked up at various things. We started new programs, new receptions. We went around the country and met with alumni. K.B.: Really? M.P.: Not the first year. The annual appeals. We started an annual report for the school. It really took off. As my responsibilities increased as well as the office itself picked up a secretary, and then another person came in to help. Then we added a recruiting office. It was exhausting, but it was interesting. I found that being a teacher helped because of the creativity. The same qualities that I think you need in a teacher, you need in a development person. You have to be able to communicate to people. You have to be able to be creative. You have to be organized. You absolutely have to be organized. A lot of those tools sort of transferred over. I always felt pulled. My preference was teaching, so they kept me in the mix. That was because I wanted to be. I still managed to stay involved with the activities. In 1987, I was named the school's Development Director, but I was still in the classroom for, I believe, five classes. K.B.: Oh my heavens! M.P.: I would arrive at the school in the darkness of morning and wouldn't get home. . . I didn't see my house in daylight for months on end. In 1986, they created an award, the Teacher of the Year Award. I was honored as the first recipient. I was pretty pleased about that. K.B.: That was an affirmation of your teaching. M.P.: Yes, very much. K.B.: Very nice. M.P.: I was very touched by that. It was one of the highpoints of my career. Again, I just stayed involved with some things. I was the tennis coach, if you can believe it. I hold the school record. I had four championships in a row through the late 1990's. That was a great experience. I was also a Senior Class Advisor. That was an experience, because I was able to pull all of the new knowledge as the development fundraising person and apply that. One of the grandest proms the school ever had, actually, it was the grandest prom--I was able to raise enough money that we took the entire class to New York for their prom. And for these guys, our guys are from East Baltimore, many of them have never been out of the city. It was just fantastic. We had 300 between the students and their dates and the faculty. We had a pre-prom reception at the school. Loaded six buses, went up to Times Square at the Marriott Marquis, had the prom. Was able to keep the cost at $150, which was outstanding. We organized fundraisers and the kids just plugged away at it. We came back the following morning, and the parents had a breakfast. I only lost one person the entire trip. It wasn't a kid. It was a faculty member. I warned her if she wasn't there I'd leave her and I did. She actually had plans, so she stayed. We joke about that. K.B.: Good. Eventually, she returned home? M.P.: Eventually, she returned. I actually had another faculty member and his wife drive up. We got them a room at the Marriott in case one of the students was late. We didn't want to hold up. It was a great experience. K.B.: You had a contingency plan? M.P.: I had a contingency plan. I went up the week before or the week prior to go through all of it to make sure it was okay. It was just a fantastic experience. I know they appreciated it. It was interesting because at that point I realized that maybe things are winding down at the school . . . that I had done all the things I could do. I had been named Vice President for Advancement. Again, the program just kept building. By the time I left, I was the Vice President for Advancement. We had changed to the President Principal model, which is now so popular in private schools--President, Head Master, Head Mistress sort of thing. We had a capital campaign. And at that point, in the Development Office, we had gone through the whole cycle. We had the Annual Appeals. We started a gala, a dinner auction. We did all the things you're supposed to do, those building blocks to get to the peak which is the capital campaign. We had a Capital Campaign for Endowment, which is actually one of the harder things to sell. We went over goal. Our goal was 2.5 million. We raised 3.3. For a young school that's extremely difficult. It was one of those things where, like a Rosemary Clooney song "Is that all there is?," at a point where I should have been ‘so like just crazy about all of it,’ I looked around. What helped, I was not teaching anymore. I did not have that connection. I think had I still been in the classroom, I would probably still be there. Not having the connection it was okay, this is what is going to fuel my creativity. I need to go to seek the next part of the career, the next challenge. K.B.: In the process of being there, you got a master's degree at Towson. M.P.: In 1991 in Education Administration. K.B.: I'm just wondering how you came to know all these things that a development officer needs to know. Did you get any benefit from that master's degree? M.P.: Not in development. The master's degree I think helped in some other administrative ways, organization and so forth, but the skills and development I think most people that came up in the career when I did, it's different now. There is actually a program you can take. You learn on the fly. For Catholic educators, there still is a convention every year, the National Catholic Education Association convention. In its heyday, it was 12 or 14,000 educators. They had a component of that convention for development. In fact, I ended up in later years I was a speaker in Los Angeles and Pennsylvania for that convention. Philadelphia. You learned it on the fly. It was a lot of what works, what doesn't work. But I'm very proud of the work at Curley especially, because we were the first Catholic school to have a full color magazine for our alumni newsletter. That was a long way from the 11x17 fold over. Our activities, we stepped them up to the next level. It clicked. Since then, I'm very happy to say that my successor, actually a former student of mine, has built upon that. The president that I was very close with left shortly after I did. The new president came in--dynamic and built upon what the former president did. The school today is in great shape. I just think that the work we performed early on helped. Years later after I left the school, I was invited back to emcee the fiftieth anniversary ceremony they had. It was interesting for me, because fifty years prior, 49.5 I guess, I was there. I was about eight days old. They dedicated the school in the spring of 1962. I was born in early April. This was the end of April. My parents were holding me. My uncle was in the first graduating class. I came back 50 years later. I'm still involved. I serve on some committees, fundraising mainly. It's been a great experience. In fact, last year was one of the best honors. I was asked to come and give the commencement address at graduation. K.B.: Very nice. M.P.: Which was a tremendous honor; thoroughly enjoyed it. I was very happy that my parents could be there. They're still alive and were able to enjoy that with me. K.B.: That's wonderful. At this point in your career, you've sort of done everything that you didn't even know you could do. You're thinking perhaps you might be looking at something else? How did that something else present itself? M.P.: In 2000, towards the end, we had had the successful capital campaign. I was privy to the fact that the president, my boss, was moving on. Not being a priest, there was no chance of me ascending to that position. I'm not sure I wanted it anyway. We had a great working relationship. And, I just felt as though it was time. I was approaching 40. I don't know if it was a midlife crisis or not, but it was time to try something different. About that time, I noticed in the Chronicle of Philanthropy there was an advertisement for a position in Baltimore at the Cathedral Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which we’ll say from here on out the Baltimore Basilica for a development person. It just combined everything I enjoyed. History. The Basilica is America's first Catholic cathedral. America's first Catholic bishop, John Carroll, is buried there. It's very important. As a Roman Catholic, my faith is important to me and to be close to that history part of it and it was also development. It was going to be straight development. Someone else was handling the marketing and all. I accepted the position. I believe that was right at the beginning of 2001. In 2004, my boss moved on and they asked me to take his position. I became the Executive Director of what is called the Basilica Historic Trust, which is the foundation for the church. It was a momentous time in the history of the church, because we were about to embark on a 33 million dollar restoration. As I had to learn on the fly development items before, this time I really had to learn a lot because I was, for all intents and purposes, the CEO and COO. I was responsible for fundraising, marketing, daily operations. And then, I did not oversee the construction, but I was ultimately responsible for it. It was just a life changing experience. Not only was it so involved in every possible way but I was able to meet and work with some fascinating people. My immediate boss was Cardinal William Keeler. I was literally working in the cardinal's basement. It was great to work with him and help him achieve his goal. This was his dream of restoring the Basilica. In the process, it was a two and a half year construction. In the development office, where the historic trust stuff was, was my assistant and me. That was it. Then we had a board of some very active people that was extremely important as well. It culminated with the reopening of the Basilica. We had a bicentennial celebration, a national celebration that we planned. It could not have been a more perfect week in November. It was just phenomenal. In the course of that restoration, I learned a lot about contractors. They bend the truth a lot. Architects, they love to spend your money. And just overall, building construction. We had to start a gift shop, so I learned a little retail. I also began a volunteer program. There is a very small parish at the Basilica. Not enough members actually to have a good volunteer base. We had to start a museum, and I love that. So, we started a museum, a gift shop, a volunteer pool. The restoration was very well received. We had to handle that in a certain way. I had never been interviewed by the media before. Not that I can remember. I was pretty much the liaison. I had to do a lot of interviews and sort of put the message out there. It became even more of a responsibility when the cardinal, shortly before we reopened, was in a car accident. I had pick up for him as well, in interviews and so forth, that he would have done. It was an interesting time. It was an exciting time. I can't say enough about just how crazy it was. K.B.: And wonderful. M.P.: And wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I had the same situation after ten years there. I looked around and it was time to move on. I noticed an advertisement for the Maryland Science Center. This is science. I don't know about this. I went over and interviewed. I thought "let's give this a shot." So far, it's been fantastic. K.B.: When did you start there? M.P.: I started there in April 2011. K.B.: About 18 months. M.P.: It's been different. Science, it's different. But it’s enjoyable. K.B.: What kinds of responsibilities do you have there? M.P.: At the Science Center, I am back to pure development. I'm Vice President for Development. It's strictly fundraising whereas at the school and the Basilica I was also responsible for marketing and those sorts of things. Here at the Science Center, we have our marketing department with a separate manager. K.B.: And your own gift shop! M.P.: I don't have to worry about the gift shop either. It was a great experience. I look back, and I think I'm extremely lucky. I've been able to have these different experiences at these places. I'm also bit of an oddball when it comes to my career. A lot of people in development tend to leave after a couple years, move onto the next stop and jump around. I'm more of a nester. I like to be involved in a place and enjoy it and reap some of the benefits of the programs that you set up and so forth. I'm so lucky in the choices that I've made and the opportunities that have come my way. K.B.: Going on at the same time is sort of a reconnection with Towson University and being more involved in things here. Would you like to talk a little bit about that? M.P.: Sure. In 1988, I came back for my graduate degree. I very much enjoyed that, as I mentioned. After I received the degree, I received a phone call from someone in the Alumni Office. “Would I be interested in joining a committee?” I believe it was a career something committee at that time. I came to the meeting. I very much enjoyed it. I guess it was two weeks later I received a call. The person said, “The chair had resigned because of some employment obligations, would I be willing to be the chair?” “Okay, sure.” I went to my first general meeting of the Alumni Board as a chair of the new committee. I guess six months later, the President of the Alumni Association at that time, a gentleman by the name of Ron Peterson, I believe he passed away. He had been the alumni president forever. They needed a new president, so they appointed someone else. They asked me to be what they called president elect, Vice President. “Look, I just joined the association.” They said, “Don't worry this guy will be president for six years.” I said, “Okay.” Within a few months, that person resigned and I became president of the organization. I then had four fascinating years. I think it was 1995 through '99. Again, just learning how a university operates and the politics, if you will. It was a great experience. In the process, I was part of the search committee for the provost. At that time, it was an amazing experience. The changeover from Towson State University to Towson University. The logo changeover. It was a time of tremendous growth. I very much enjoyed that volunteer experience. In fact, of all the volunteer experiences I've had, that was the most fulfilling. You really felt like you were making a difference. We had a great alumni staff and development staff at that time as well. Reconnecting with some of the faculty members that I had lost touch with. Attending the football games. They would take us to some receptions around the country. It was great. I was still at Curley at the time. One quick story that was great. When I was Alumni President, they wanted me to go to Florida for an alumni function. It was January. I said, “Sure.” I went to BWI airport. This was before 9/11. You could just jump on the plane. I guess the flight was four o’clock in the afternoon. I left school, went right to the airport, got on the plane. The alumni reception was that evening in Boca Raton. We had the alumni reception. Next morning I get on the plane. It was a very early flight, five o’clock. I'm back at my desk by around nine the next day. One of the students came in and said, "Mr. Potter what did you do last night?" I said, "I went to Florida." K.B.: And he didn't believe you, I'm sure. M.P.: He didn't believe me. Hoke Smith gave the commencement address at the 1996 graduation [at Archbishop Curley] as a favor to me. He did a fantastic job. I sort of felt as though I had come full circle at that point. K.B.: Interesting. Other things about your relationship with Towson? You really haven't been in a major position related to alumni since you finished your tour, shall we say, as Pres? M.P.: No. I'm of the belief that when you serve in a volunteer organization, especially if you serve as an officer, even more if you're the president, when your times up, you got to go. I'm not saying the people who stick around is bad, but for me I don't want to be a hindrance to the next person. So I disappeared. The involvement with the Basilica, I had no time anyway. Recently, I was invited to join the committee with College of Education. Again, reconnecting. I attended a couple of football games this year. I feel like I'm back. K.B.: We hope you are! M.P.: Purchased some updated clothing, Under Armor. Wow! K.B.: Isn't it amazing? We have a connection there, I believe, somehow. The university. I'm not quite certain what it is. M.P.: It's all about connection. K.B.: Apparently, it is. Somebody from development with that background knows that well. Is there anything that we've missed in our conversation? M.P.: Can I quick take a look? K.B.: Absolutely. That should not be left out. M.P.: I don't think so. K.B.: That's the last one. M.P.: I think that's about it. Do you think it was okay? K.B.: It's wonderful! The last question is. . . Actually, you stayed in teaching even when you were in development. There was a piece of you that probably sort of missed doing that. What would you say to individuals now who are looking at a career as a teacher? What kind of wisdom would you share with them? M.P.: I would say stay in the profession. I've enjoyed everything that has happened in my career. I don't want anyone to feel that I made poor choices by leaving the profession. But at the end of the day, I was happiest in the classroom. Recently, I turned 50 years old. My family and friends threw a party for me, a surprise party. There were about 165 people there. K.B.: Wow! M.P.: I don't say it for that. You had family. They were there. Maybe a few people from the Basilica. Maybe some people from the Science Center. But there was an overwhelming number of students. These guys are now in their 40's with their wives. I could not have been more touched. It was at the school. It just brought back all of those memories. While it is tempting to move on, I think in a career in teaching is noble and it’s worthwhile. It is something that people should aspire to do. Again, I don't regret my choices. But I also think before the sun sets on my life, I will be back in the classroom in some capacity. Because there is something about the satisfaction of knowing that every day when you walk out of your place of employment, you have had a direct effect on people. It gives you something that putting together an annual report or raising a couple thousand dollars doesn't quite give you. It's a thrill to open an envelope up and see a nice check, but I think it's better to see a smiling face that gets it, and you realize at that point you've made a difference. K.B.: Thank you, Mark. M.P.: Thank you.