After 50 years of periodically taking classes at Harford Community College, J. David Amos has earned a degree and is vowing to continue his education.
The 70-year-old Jarrettsville resident started classes when the two-year college opened in 1957 in classrooms borrowed from Bel Air High School. He has attended off and on ever since.
In the presence of Amos' son and brother and the college trustees, Dr. James LaCalle, Harford Community College president, awarded Amos an associate's degree in applied sciences with a concentration in technical and professional studies.
"I was quite honored," Amos said. "I never really expected a diploma, but I do have over 100 credits. I did this for the knowledge, really and truthfully for the knowledge."
Retired since 2005, Amos is not resting on his accomplishments. He is plowing ahead this semester with three more college courses, including advanced calculus. He has so far accumulated 101 credits and is carrying 11 this semester.
"It might be the same calculus I took in 1957, but that was a long while ago," he said. "Besides, I like math and I almost have enough credits for another degree in business or engineering."
College officials said he is welcome to work toward as many degrees as he wishes.
"We have had many older students pursue lifelong ambitions for a degree here," said Nancy Dysard, director for marketing and public relations. "We also offer many noncredit courses that seniors take just for fun."
Amos thinks college is a bit easier and more convenient today than it was 50 years ago. When he started on the path to higher education, the ever-expanding campus on Thomas Run Road was still a working farm. He took his first college classes in the evenings at Bel Air High School.
"I never had the money to go full time and I didn't want my parents to go into debt educating me," he said.
As a young man, just graduated from North Harford High School, he held down his first job with a metals fabricator. He often worked overtime and then "stayed up half the night studying." His first college teachers taught in the high school classrooms and shared office space with the school staff.
"This college has come a long way from its cubbyholes at a high school," he said.
While his zest for learning remained constant, he probably dabbled in too many areas -- engineering, business, economics and science -- never putting together the requisite credits in any one field, he said. Still, he persisted.
"I like to stay active and will not spend my life looking at TV," he said. "I would rather stick my nose in a book than spend hours in a bar."
Family and job pressures often led him to drop a course before he could complete it. But he regularly came back to the textbooks.
"You can never be educated enough," he said. "Even if you had 10 Ph.D.s, you will never know it all. Once you get your mind around something, you can learn."
Classes are much bigger now, course selections are varied and the latest technology is often available to faculty and students.
Amos said he is most often the oldest student in the room. That may be true of the courses he is pursuing, but, Dysard said, the college has conferred degrees on several octogenarians.
"I guess my message to students is that if you have to take time off from your education, get back to it and keep at it," Amos said.
He reluctantly bought a computer for his home, but has yet to hook it up, preferring to do his homework without any electronic assistance.
"I recognize the benefits of a computer, but they are not quite what they are cracked up to be," he said.
As for his alma mater, he has only the highest regard.
"It has always been a wonderful facility with good teachers and it's about the cheapest place you can go for good education," he said. "I would absolutely recommend it to anyone."
mary.gail.hare@baltsun.com