Thomas McCue, 64, will spend Father’s Day with his six daughters, 14 grandchildren and three great- grandchildren. He will also try to find time to do homework.
Forty-six years after graduating from Campbell High School, McCue is fulfilling his lifelong dream of going to college.
“As we all know, life has a mind of its own, and life happened,” he said. McCue became a father at a young age, and in order to provide for his family, he figured his best path was to put off college and start an apprenticeship at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. “It was perfect for me,” he said. “The only thing it didn’t provide was a way to go to school.”
Over the years, McCue tried to attend community college classes but found it took up too much time, especially when his children were young. He did take lots of classes in his apprenticeship program to become a journeyman mechanic and eventually rose to project manager.
Over the years, he never stopped telling his daughters to go to college. “I always, always encouraged them. I told them to go to college. Set goals. Make your education your priority,” McCue said.
After 33 years at the shipyard, McCue accepted an early retirement package at age 52 but quickly realized he wasn’t ready to be retired. One of his daughters pushed him to apply at Disney’s Aulani when the resort first opened in 2011, and he was hired before the grand opening. He’s now the food purchaser for the entire resort.
Two big things happened to finally put him on the path to a college degree.
One was the “how,” the other was the “why.”
Last year, Disney launched a program that offers hourly employees the opportunity to go to college. Disney Aspire is a 100% tuition-paid education program that helps “cast members,” as employees are called, achieve their academic goals. The program provides college counseling as well as a network of participating schools with programs geared to nontraditional, working students. McCue was anxious to apply.
“I went on their website so many times. I kept checking,” he said. That program would be how he could afford college, both financially and in terms of his work schedule.
Around the same time, he was giving one of his granddaughters, Emily, his usual lecture about setting her mind to go to college, being determined, finding a way. “That’s when she asked me if I ever went to college,” McCue said. “I told her, ‘No, I didn’t, but I really wanted to.’ That’s the moment that really turned on a light bulb for me.”
He was always telling the kids to go to college. He should lead by example. There was his “why.”
McCue was accepted into the Disney Aspire program and is one of 6,900 employees currently enrolled in courses.
He is now finishing up statistics, the last class in the College Start program, which is meant for people like him who have been out of school for a while. The next step will be to take classes in his major. He’s looking at several out-of-state colleges that offer online classes for a bachelor’s degree in computer science, something he has always loved. His goal is to get his master’s.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a geek, but every time we had a computer at the shipyard, I found a way to get involved,” McCue said. “Here at Aulani, when there’s a computer problem in the office, before they go to IT, they call me.”
When word got around Aulani that McCue was starting college, about a dozen of his co-workers sought him out to congratulate him, to confide that they, too, had always dreamed of college, and to ask his advice. “I feel good about that,” he said.
“In the beginning, I thought I wanted to inspire my grandkids. But what I find is that I’m an inspiration to other people. If I can, they can.”
At this point in his life, a college degree is not so much something he needs, but something he wants. “It’s not about making me better than anyone else. It’s something that I will have earned by working hard.”
His kids and grandkids and great-grandkids are already talking about being his entourage when he travels to the mainland to receive his diploma. “Oh, yes. I’m not going to just get my diploma in the mail,” McCue said. “I’m going to walk in graduation with all my family there.”
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
