For 15 years, Wayne Downs was a truck driver, and although he made a good living, he wasn’t happy, and he wasn’t pursuing the dream he had had since childhood.

Being a teacher was always at the top of his list, but when it came time to graduate from high school, Downs’ family didn’t have the resources to send him to college, so he got his commercial driver’s license and spent the next decade and a half wishing he were doing something else. He volunteered as a Boy Scouts leader as a way to meet his need to teach. When his company downsized and he lost his job, he decided the time was right to pursue his dream.

At 39, however, Downs was worried that he was too old to go back to the classroom. The 1991 graduate of Philadelphia’s Lincoln High School had taken only basic math, never algebra. He also knew he would need a writing refresher course. Twenty years after graduation—was it too late?

“I knew I would need extra academic support and heard good things about Montgomery County Community College, about how they have smaller classes and give students extra help, and after I visited, it was the only place I considered,” says Downs.

“I met with a wonderful advisor—Joan Bettinger—who steered me to the right classes so that after graduation, all my credits transferred (except two remedial classes, in math and writing). She was awesome … she was my person when I needed someone.”

That first semester, Downs took Geology and History in addition to the review classes. Catherine Parzynski, Ph.D., assistant professor of History and advisor to Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year colleges, was one of the mentors he remembers clearly. She reviewed his papers with him and reassured him that his writing was good. “She gave me confidence when I was scared about my abilities,” he remembers.

“I felt like I was so far behind—like I should have been teaching for 20 years already, and I was afraid I simply couldn’t keep up. But the teachers at Montco all encouraged me and reassured me that I was competent and intelligent.”

Although teaching history was his goal when he enrolled, after taking an Introduction to Special Education class with instructor Mary McGinn-Holewinski and writing a paper about observing a life skills class in the Boyertown Area School District, Downs learned about the various areas of special education in which he could concentrate. And he realized that he would have the best chance of making a real difference in the lives of children who were challenged physically, emotionally and academically by teaching special education.

By his third semester, Downs had earned enough credits to apply for induction into PTK, and on the advice of Dr. Parzynski, he did and was accepted. The night he was inducted was one of the special moments of his life, he recalls, and he hung up a photo of himself at his induction. While at Montco, Downs also was the vice president of the History Club.

“I can honestly say Wayne was one of the top five students I had in 25 years of teaching,” says Dr. Parzynski. “He was the ‘total package for a teacher—engaged, involved and committed to getting the most he could out of his time at MCCC. He’s the type of student you look back on and say, ‘I’m glad I’m an educator.’”

After graduating summa cum laude in 2011, Downs continued his education at Kutztown University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Special Education and was accepted into Kappa Delta Pi, the Education Honor Society.

“The confidence I got from Montgomery County Community College prepared me for Kutztown,” says Downs. “I’m not sure I would have made it there if I had gone right away. I would have been lost. Montco was the right size, with the right support at the right time for me. And all the teachers who were open to spending extra time and effort to help me over the rough spots taught me to be a better teacher.

“I’m like that now with my students. I think of myself as acting like a professor at Montco. And although I’m exhausted at the end of the day, I’m happy.”

After graduating from Kutztown in 2013, Downs attended Arcadia University, where he earned a master’s degree in Education with a concentration in Applied Behavior Analysis in 2017. He also earned an Autism Certificate.

Today, Downs, 45, and Kelly live in Fleetwood, Pa. He teaches students with emotional-behavioral disorders in the Spring-Ford Area School District. And no matter where he goes, Downs shares his story of success based on beginning at Montgomery County Community College.

“You can do it at any age,” he says. “You just have to go to the right place, and you can’t help but be a success at Montco. I walked in feeling down and scared of failing out, but I knew one thing, that I wanted to work with kids, and so I jumped right in. I tell everybody, ‘check out Montco.’”