Making The Ordinary Extraordinary

Hello Everyone:  My name is Chris Perley.  I'd like to take a moment and first thank you for reading my blog.  There is a lot of information out there on the world wide web and you can afford to be choosy!  I hope that the time you spend reading my thoughts on Granite State College and the adult education service it provided me, will be time well spent.

I will start off by telling you my story.  My hope is not so much to impress you with it, but to give you an opportunity to see how my story fits in with your story:  So here goes....

I am currently 50 years old, married for the second time, and have three children, ages from 29, 27 and 6!  I live in Conway NH with my wife (and best friend) Brittany, who is Deputy Sheriff, and our six year old daughter Grace Alena.  We also have a black lab named Edge, who is my wife's police dog.  I serve as second in command, at the rank of Lieutenant, here at the Conway Police Department.  I have lived here in the Granite State since I was 14.  By northern Yankee standards I am a local (here for over 20 years) but not a native (born in the flatlands)!  I graduated from Kennett High School in 1978, (GO EAGLES), and enlisted in the U.S. Army serving with the 82ND Airborne Division....hooorahhhh!

At the time I graduated high school I really didn't see college as a viable option.  I was one of 4 boys, in a working class family and really couldn't wrap my mind around another 4 years of school.  I also recall the distinct feeling that life choices back then were "either, or".  I guess I didn't realize you could go in the Army AND go to college as well.  I certainly don't regret my service years, but if only I knew then how fast life takes over......

Within three years of joining the Army, I was married with two kids and that spells but one purpose in life, WORK!  Any ideas of college back then were nothing but faded memories.  At the time, college wasn't even a consideration as the jobs I were doing, like truck driver and lumber yard worker certainly didn't need an accelerated undergraduate degree.

In 1985 I got an opportunity that changed my life.  I became a cop.  I was drawn to the idea of police work through a friend who was a detective here in Conway, and a desire to be a part of something bigger than myself.  I loved the Mt. Washington Valley community and it just felt right serving it in that way.  Back then, a military background was common, and good preparation, in police work.  As a rookie your fellow officers were far more apt to ask you what branch of the service you had been in versus where did you go to college.  Boy have times changed!

I was promoted up through the ranks and in 1990 found myself serving at the rank of sergeant and as the department prosecutor.  The work was intellectually challenging and I felt I could use some formal education, not only as the prosecutor but to advance in my field.  I also noticed that the trend with new officers was that they had college educations.  I knew if I wanted to "Keep Earning" I had better "Start Learning".  I knew that although I had technical skill, and real world experience, I would need the credentials and broader knowledge that only a college education provides.  This is where my relationship with GSC began...  

In my next blog I'll describe the jumping off place of my educational journey, or what I like to call "Taking the Ordinary and Making it Extraordinary!"