I was 28 when I started. I had just been laid off from a job as a third shift worker at a textile mill.
The college had a big impact on me in a lot of ways. As a work-study student, I had a campus job in the animal science lab for a year and a half. I worked in the drama department as a box office manager. I was on Student Senate. The doors at HCC were wide open, and I had enough common sense to realize that there was this quarter million-dollar radio station here I had access to for free, and I took full advantage of it.
One day, Herb Michaels, my communications teacher, brought a tape into class and made everybody listen to the recording. We concluded that this was the worst DJ on the planet. Even I said, “I don’t know who that guy is, but he’s bad.” At the end of class, Mr. Michaels pulled me aside and said, “Paul, that’s you.” I was shocked. It was a wake-up call.
He told me to go back to the station and read the news from the Associated Press teletype exactly as it was written, word for word. No uhs and ums. No hesitations between words. I practiced every single day for several months, and I was able to get my diction up, and the quality of my show improved.
When I graduated, he sat me down and said, “Paul, you’re not the best writer in the world, and you’re not the best DJ in the world, but you have a fantastic personality. Why don’t you get into advertising? You would make a great salesman.” I immediately got a job at a local newspaper, selling ads. Within three years, I was the owner and publisher of the Chicopee Herald.
Before HCC, I had worked a lot of entry level jobs, and I was not necessarily thinking of being successful or career minded. I had a desire, but I had personal limitations that told me, this is the most you’re going to get.
My family was very poor. We moved a lot. I went to 11 different schools before I graduated high school in Chicopee. I never had an opportunity to develop relationships with teachers like I did at HCC. I’ve had tremendous success from the things I learned here and the support I received. I never felt unwelcome. I never felt insecure. I never felt like I couldn’t do it, and when I did not put my best foot forward, I was always treated with respect.
Later I suffered some health problems and was out of work for 20 years. In 2008, I went back to work part time and decided to get another degree. My first thought was to come back to HCC. In 2013, when I was 60, I got my second associate degree, this one in addiction studies. I transferred to the University of Massachusetts, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in applied mental health and was hired as a treatment counselor for Behavioral Health Network. I got laid off after COVID hit and retired.
I have two sons and a daughter with Jean, my wife of 49 years. My children all came here as students, along with a couple of nieces and nephews. We have a long connection to HCC.
In 2020, I joined the Alumni Council. Two years ago, I started doing my weekly radio show, “Coffee Hour with Radio Paul.” I also attend weekly meetings of the HCC Radio Club. I wanted to show my appreciation, to reciprocate. There are things I’ve learned that you can’t put in a study guide. It’s worth it to me to stay connected to the place that helped me get where I got.”
Paul Rogers hosts a weekly radio show on the HCC college radio station, WCCH 103.5 FM, Wednesdays from 9 to 10 a.m. My HCC Story narratives are adapted from interviews with HCC alumni conducted by Connection editor Chris Yurko.
