Neil Oliveria was at his oldest granddaughter鈥檚 high school graduation three years ago when he had an epiphany.
He watched as an elderly teacher, a man in his 80s, handed an award to a student, and he thought: 鈥淭hat could be me!鈥�
That summer, Oliveria applied as a transfer student to 51视频. Now 65 and a grandfather of five, he鈥檚 completing his B.A. in history while starting on his master鈥檚 in education through the 鈥渇ast track鈥� bachelor鈥檚-to-master鈥檚 program. He expects to finish his M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction in December 2019 and start teaching high school history in 2020.
鈥淚 love being here,鈥� Oliveria says. 鈥淐oming to 51视频 is the best decision I鈥檝e made in the past 20 years. Every professor I鈥檝e had in history is awesome.鈥�
Oliveria graduated from high school in 1971 and went first to Fitchburg State College, then Northern Essex Community College. He was working part-time at Star Market, too, and he fell in love with a co-worker. So after finishing his two-year degree, he got a job as a technical writer at Raytheon.
鈥淏ack then, you didn鈥檛 need a four-year degree to get a good job,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 just wanted to get married to Linda, get a job, buy a house and have kids.鈥�
He did all of that, and moved from Raytheon to a small, well-regarded educational publishing firm, where he wrote, edited and handled preproduction for books that K-8 schools used as supplemental reading. When the company was acquired in 2007, everyone but the warehouse staff got laid off.
Oliveria found a job in advertising, but was laid off again as the recession deepened in 2009. He lost his retirement savings before finally getting another job as a limousine driver. Now he drives at night, mostly to Logan Airport and back, and studies during the day. He also managed to volunteer at Butler School last spring, helping kids with their homework.
鈥淚鈥檓 never going to retire,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is really exciting for me, though, because I love history and I love teaching. Now I鈥檝e had the chance to decide what I want to do for the rest of my life.鈥�
He鈥檚 done extremely well in his classes, earning a 3.9 GPA in聽history聽and a 4.0 in his English minor. He鈥檚 president of the history honors society, Phi Alpha Theta, and counts last year鈥檚 president, Kady Phelps 鈥�17, 鈥�18 鈥� the first in the new history master鈥檚 program to defend her thesis 鈥� among his closest friends on campus. He鈥檚 also great friends with Lexi Mason 鈥�18, another history grad who鈥檚 going on for her M.Ed. while working for the university鈥檚 Centers for Learning and Academic Support Services.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice having young people you can talk to 鈥� and they鈥檙e both smart as a whip,鈥� he says.
Through the fast-track program, Oliveria has already taken two graduate courses in education that count toward his undergraduate degree, too. He鈥檚 finishing up strong, taking two graduate history courses, two 4000-level English classes 鈥� one online 鈥� and an honors seminar, 鈥淓urope in the Middle Ages,鈥� in his final semester.
鈥淚 took ridiculously hard courses this semester because it鈥檚 my last chance to take them,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y whole thing is to learn as much as I can while I鈥檓 here.鈥�