Carleton College Sophomore Offers Insight to Classmates
John Sheesley, a sophomore at Carleton, thought he would never go to college. “I know what it’s like to live thinking that way,” he said. “It’s really easy to get into a cycle where you put it off and put it off, and all of the sudden you’re 50 years old and it’s too late.” However, Sheesley finally had what he calls “the chance of a lifetime” at the age of 28. “I have an overwhelming sense of appreciation and thankfulness to [Carleton’s] admissions staff…they took a chance on me,” he said.
John Sheesley, a sophomore at Carleton, thought he would never go to college. “I know what it’s like to live thinking that way,” he said. “It’s really easy to get into a cycle where you put it off and put it off, and all of the sudden you’re 50 years old and it’s too late.” However, Sheesley finally had what he calls “the chance of a lifetime” at the age of 28. “I have an overwhelming sense of appreciation and thankfulness to [Carleton’s] admissions staff…they took a chance on me,” he said.
Sheesley never graduated from high school, but he took some community college courses until he joined the Marines in 1991 after the Gulf War broke out. Most of his current Carleton classmates were still in elementary school at the time. “My grandfather fought in World War II, and my dad was in the Marines, although it never really was the logical path for me,” he said. “When I got to boot camp I was thinking ‘what have I done?’” Sheesley did not end up fighting in the Gulf War, since it ended before he finished boot camp. Instead, he has served two tours of duty in the Marine Corps, and he will be honorably discharged from his current tour in March.
When he wasn’t on active duty, Sheesley worked with youth and as a carpenter, but he always kept the dream of going to college in the front of his mind. “I was quite intimidated because I didn’t graduate from high school,” he said. He finally expressed his desire to one of his employers, and was encouraged to apply to good schools right away. “I applied to several, but Carleton was my number one pick,” he said.
Now that he is in his second year, Sheesley finds college to be more rewarding and fulfilling than he had thought it would be. “I can finally get answers to questions I had been thinking about for a long time, and those have in turn opened up new questions,” he said.
As for his social interactions with students who are usually 10 years younger, Sheesley was surprised by how easily he fit in. “For the most part, it’s not that weird,” he said, “and at any rate the only experience I’ve had [with college social life] is as a 30-year-old at Carleton.” Originally Sheesley thought that the age difference would let him ignore college social life and focus entirely on his studies, but experience at the College has proven him wrong. “I’ve found that people here are so interesting that living in solitude is impossible,” he said.
If one thing sets Sheesley apart from the rest of Carleton’s student body, it’s his sense of perspective, which has come simply because he has had more time to experience life as an independent adult. “Most of my fellow sophomores are dealing with issues that I have already dealt with,” he said, “and I occasionally catch myself thinking that ‘their views will change when they’re out on their own.’”
Sheesley ultimately sees his chance to attend college as a benchmark in his life, and thinks that aspects of his life will definitely change. “When I have children, they are going to be raised differently because of this,” he said, “and I want to make the most of it.”