{"id":101343,"date":"2015-05-01T11:44:32","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T15:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=101343"},"modified":"2016-04-25T09:41:04","modified_gmt":"2016-04-25T13:41:04","slug":"the-right-time-and-place-for-70-year-old-graduate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2015\/05\/the-right-time-and-place-for-70-year-old-graduate\/","title":{"rendered":"The Right Time and Place for 70-year-old Graduate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Walter<\/a>
Walter Block ’15 (CLAS), left, attends class at UConn Stamford. (Kim Krieger\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At age 65, with no college credits, Walter Block enrolled at UConn\u2019s Stamford campus; he will celebrate his 72nd year by receiving a BA in history during May\u2019s Commencement.<\/p>\n

Block joked about why he chose to major in history. \u201cSince I\u2019d lived through so much, I thought it would be easy. My general level of knowledge is reasonably strong, if I judge by how well I do on Jeopardy<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Block\u2019s real reason for choosing his field of study is profound. \u201cMy strong interest in history is because of the Holocaust and WW II. My father\u2019s entire family was wiped out. My mother lost a substantial part of her family as well. I was never far from the subject matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

His academic advisor, associate professor of European history Joel Blatt, notes that some of Block\u2019s classes \u201cwere right in Walter\u2019s wheelhouse. But here\u2019s a 70-year-old person who committed to doing a huge amount of work. That inspires younger students, and shows the virtues of learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was the right time, right place … right everything.–Walter Block ’15 (CLAS)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Most nontraditional students return to college with varying amounts of credit. \u201cWalter is rare,\u201d says Blatt, who has been a faculty member for 38 years. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever known someone who had no college at all and then began as a senior citizen. Walter systematically got through the requirements to get the degree, which is quite amazing because UConn is demanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marilyn Block, Walter\u2019s wife of 49 years, says \u201cgoing to UConn has turned out to be a great adventure for my husband. He struggled with Spanish and math. But because he was in the workforce all his life, he knew how to navigate people. He\u2019d set up study groups so others would help him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Block did so well academically that he was inducted into the UConn chapter of the National History Honor Society, Phi Alpha Theta. \u201cOne of the things I\u2019m most proud of is that with only six credits left to earn, I have a solid 3.5 GPA,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

A full-time residential realtor, he plans to continue that work upon getting his degree, as well as doing some substitute teaching. \u201cI want to make a difference. I don\u2019t want a job that\u2019s 9-5 all year every day but I have no intention of ever retiring,\u201d Block says. \u201cThe thought frightens me.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s not much that frightens him. In fact, straight out of high school he enlisted in the Navy, where he served on one of the ships blockading Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Having taught Block in several classes, Blatt notes that his student’s sense of humor allowed the professor to pique the class\u2019s interest one day by announcing, \u201cWe have someone with us who saved the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Block there is one great disadvantage of returning to school after such a long period of time: \u201cMy business life trained my brain to bring problems to quick resolutions,\u201d he says, \u201cwhile when writing a paper the idea is to take a problem and expand upon it. I have had great difficulty with that. Also, I have to write everything out longhand and then type it with two fingers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Block launched his business life at Alexander\u2019s Department Store in New York City, joining its executive training program upon being discharged. His career primarily involved the retailing, wholesaling, or manufacturing of women\u2019s handbags, including a period of 10 years when he operated factories. For six or seven years he flew to Maine, Texas, or Mexico on Mondays and flew home on Fridays.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband is an extremely bright man,\u201d says Marilyn Block. \u201cHe had the ability to go far, but his high school teachers didn\u2019t give him that extra push. He went on to be a very successful person, but that was by sheer persistence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after his 65th birthday, Block shifted his career to real estate and attended a job-related presentation at UConn\u2019s Stamford campus. There, he learned that tuition\u00a0at public universities is free to Connecticut residents aged 62 and older.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I went off and joined the Navy, I broke my parents\u2019 hearts,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes in life you have an epiphany. Learning about the free tuition, I said, \u2018Now\u2019s the time to honor their memory.\u2019 And I was always disappointed in myself that I never went to college. This was the right time, right place … right everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Complete Classroom Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once Block began his long-delayed college studies, there was no stopping him. \u201cWalter was so determined and well-organized,\u201d says Blatt. \u201cEvery semester he was the first person to request a meeting with me for advice on which courses to take in the upcoming semester. He was always keenly interested in \u2018What do I need to do next?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Block never considered taking classes online or just auditing UConn\u2019s classes. \u201cI wanted the whole experience of being in the classroom, the chance to contribute, to interact,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Block\u2019s eagerness to participate in class discussions also inspired the traditional-age college students who were the majority of his classmates. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the best students I\u2019ve ever had in terms of willingness to discuss issues,\u201d Blatt says. \u201cIt was a great joy for me to have discussions about significant interpretations of history with someone who is thoughtful and deeply interested. And Walter doesn\u2019t hesitate to be provocative.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, he thrived on the give-and-take of class discussion. \u201cI am by nature verbal and to some degree and\u00a0\u2013 I mean this in the comedic sense \u2013 argumentative,\u201d Block says. \u201cMost of the students are quiet and shy for the most part. My level of participation triggered the students to speak up. I\u2019d always get a rush at the end of the semester, when the other students thanked me for making the class more verbal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Block now bleeds Husky blue. \u201cI had a terrific experience at UConn Stamford,\u201d he says. \u201cBoth in my general education classes and my history major, whether adjuncts or tenured, the professors were nothing short of phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n

And thanks to Block, a special sixth grader will be among the proud families witnessing UConn\u2019s Class of \u201915 receive degrees. \u201cWhen I started seven years ago, my goal was to graduate before my granddaughter,\u201d he says. \u201cShe was in kindergarten at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more stories<\/a> related to Commencement.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At age 65, with no college credits, Walter Block enrolled at UConn Stamford; now 72, he will receive a BA in history this Commencement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":101389,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2229,174,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[117],"class_list":["post-101343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-commencement","category-uconn-stamford","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 10:20:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101343"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111875,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101343\/revisions\/111875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/101389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101343"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=101343"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=101343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}