Follow the Yellow Brick Road

To Housatonic, That Is

By Ashley Chapman
Editor-At-Large

You know that feeling that you get in your throat when you’re about to throw up? It is an all-too-familiar feeling to students who have recently graduated high school and get asked that hideous question, “So what college are you going to?”

Students feel ashamed -- not proud -- to tell the world that they are going to be attending a community college in the near future instead of a university. (You’re saving money, and you’re not just a number.) Or it’s the reciprocal. A student may go to a university first and find that it doesn’t fit, and then attend a community college.

That is exactly what Kevin Bailey did, and he isn’t even embarrassed by it. In fact, he can’t get over the extra amount of cash that he has in his pocket, and how much HCC actually has to offer.

Bailey and his girlfriend, Lindsay Slater, have been city-bound basically their whole lives. So it wasn’t a shock to anyone when they both announced that in the fall of 2005 they would be attending their dream schools. Bailey would be attending New York University and Slater, Marymount College.

When Bailey was a child, he used to go visit his aunt in the city. There they would take walks to New York University’s campus, where he would listen to her stories and memories of her time as a student at NYU.

“[My aunt and I] would often go to the NYU campus around West 4th street and Washington Square Park because the park was pretty, it’s a good location, and had a playground. From there I fell in love with that area of Manhattan,” Bailey says.

From there on his dream was to attend NYU, and to live in the city for the rest of his life. He worked extremely hard in high school, and kept his hopes high when he sent out his application.

“I was hesitant about getting in. NYU is one of the most competitive universities to get into. It is one of the top twenty universities in the nation, and Princeton Review had ranked it the number one dream school. I did graduate in the top ten percent of my class, had a 3.8 GPA, I was on student council, yearbook staff, and national Honor Society, but I was still incredibly nervous.”

Bailey’s girlfriend remembers the time period of waiting for the letter of acceptance, and how intensely nervous he was.

“Kevin had a lot rested on NYU. It was his dream school, and he was so nervous about getting in that he didn’t talk about it much. He didn’t want to jinx it,” Slater said.
He later got accepted, but now he had to talk to his parents about money. To attend the university, it would cost a whopping $47,000 a year. He received a scholarship but it wasn’t for much.

“NYU only offered me seven thousand dollars a year in a scholarship, but my parents knew it was my dream school and accepted my decision to go to NYU,” he said.
It was a big difference for Bailey. He was used to living in Connecticut, and after moving to New York City he realized the things that he took for granted living here.

“I never drove anywhere. I had to learn where anything and everything was, which seems like it would be easier than it is. Walking shoes were a necessity because that is how I got everywhere. I needed to memorize the subway map and know where to get off where, costs, and rush hour times, and I had to learn the difference between express and local,” Bailey said.

Not only did he have to get used to the city as a whole, he had to get used to college as well. He was living on his own, and he didn’t have his parents close by to help him out with anything. Right when he found his nook and began to feel a little more at home, NYU had their own little crisis. That was the beginning of Bailey’s dream ending.

“During my first semester, all graduate students went on a strike for union contracts, and were not teaching labs or discussion classes. So, I still had to attend my twice a week lecture, which numbered up to four hundred students, but I wasn't able to go to a teacher assistant for questions or clarification. Professors rarely replied to e-mails, and my grades that semester suffered for it,” Bailey exclaimed.

Bailey had his girlfriend close by though. It was only a fifteen minute ride on the subway. His girlfriend helped him as much as she could. She was a little piece of home for Bailey, which he needed.

Spring semester rolled around and Bailey was hoping for a change. He scored a job working for the Alumni Relations offices, but he quickly found out it was too much to balance with his school work and a relationship. He stuck it out though.

He made different living arrangements for sophomore year, but that did not work out like he planned.

“I moved into a beautiful dorm apartment on Water Street across from South Street Seaport. I lived in a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment with a full kitchen on the 25th floor with views of the Brooklyn Bridge. I was in heaven, but my girlfriend was living all the way up on 92nd street, which was far away,” Bailey said.

It was a total of forty-five minutes with walking, the subway, and a taxi to see each other. They both have a cute little saying about the distance between one another.

"There's much love between 92nd and Water," Bailey said proudly.

Bailey decided that he needed a better job if he was going to survive in the city. So he had his papers transferred from American Eagle in Trumbull, CT to the one in Union Square. He stacked his school schedule to two days a week, so that he could work the other five.

“It was going well at first, but working forty hours a week and going to school six hours a day, twice a week was difficult. I was stressed and anxious all the time. It was impossible to get everything done, but I needed to work because the money was necessary,” said Bailey.

Money was not only necessary for recreational uses. Bailey had to pay for everything on his own, while only making $250 a week.

“It costs $76 a month for unlimited rides on the subway, but on top of taxi rides, train tickets home at fifty dollars a round trip, and grocery shopping, I would run out of money quickly.”

Bailey was burnt out, and he knew deep down inside that he had to go home. This wasn’t the life that he wanted. He and his girlfriend weighed their options.

“My girlfriend was fed up with her school and living situation. She also decided that she wanted a career in nursing and this program was not offered at her university. It made most sense to come home and go to Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing. It was heartbreaking to have the school of my dreams not work out, and my girlfriend’s dream as well,” Bailey said.

The more and more Bailey thought about what to do, the more and more the signs pointed to Housatonic.

“I hated the large class sizes at NYU; I wasn't establishing relationships with any professors. Despite the large workload I felt like I wasn't learning anything or growing academically, which wasn't worth the $47,000 a year, so I chose Housatonic. The school is inexpensive and personal. I feel like I am getting to know my professors and enjoy the small class sizes. It also offers flexibility, so I am still able to work during school and take evening classes. I no longer feel like a number, but a person. At NYU I was a number, my whole enrollment.” Bailey said.

After Bailey came back home, many people noticed a huge difference in him. He was back to his normal happy-go-lucky self, and was no longer stressed. He transferred back to the American Eagle in Trumbull, and his manager, Rory Martorana, notices the difference greatly.

“There is a definite change in Kevin since he came home from New York. He smiles more and with his offbeat sense of humor, manages to make every work day brighter. He has a better outlook and is much more focused. Kevin Bailey is a treasure; we would be lost without him. He's really made himself an irreplaceable part of the team,” Martorana said..

Although NYU did not work out for Bailey, he doesn’t regret any bit of it.

“The way I look at it is I am able to say I lived in Manhattan for a year and a half. I experienced things I never would outside of Manhattan and met people I will always remember. I got to live a lifestyle I, and others, have always dreamed of. I made my dream come true.”