This December, father and son David and Jason Canady will walk across the stage in the Martinez Sports Center as University of Tampa graduates. After taking time away from school, David and his son Jason both decided to go to college and get a degree.
Growing up during the times of segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, David Canady had to face the challenge of studying while trying to avoid the racial riots occurring outside his high school window.
“I remember too having pep rallies with the riot squad present in shields and carrying batons,” he said.
The pressure of being successful in school while trying to ignore the racial fights became an arduous task for David, and he eventually had to drop out.
“Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama and going to school in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s was a trying experience, especially when you go to one of the most racially violent schools,” Canady said.
Soon enough, he decided not to fully give up on his education and earned his GED. After earning his GED, he started community college, where the learning environment was more inviting than it was in high school.
Although college was socially less stressful, Canady was married and had to endure the heartbreak of losing one of his children.
To handle responsibilities at home, he once again was forced to leave behind his desire for an education for the love of his family.
Canady carried that love and passion for education far into adulthood, yet the opportunity did not present itself for a while. Canady’s opportunity came when he had to run a small business in Tampa, Fla. for the company Medco.
He began to start his own contacting business dealing with building pools and hauling dirt for home builders. His business was doing fine until the housing market crashed and work became slow.
“My work was dependant on the housing market, and when the housing bubble burst, I found myself sitting at home,” he said.
Canady decided to research schools and discovered that the University of Tampa’s liberal arts program had a lot to offer in the film and communications department.
“I researched the surrounding schools and online programs then settled on UT’s program, I liked what they offered as far as film and film studies,” he said.
Already having two years of college experience prior to enrolling at UT, he began attending in the spring semester of 2008. This enabled him to begin pursing his Bachelor of Liberal Studies with a minor in communication and concentration in film studies upon his first semester.
An honorable solider of the United States Army, David’s son, Jason Canady, joined the military after graduating from Bloomingdale high school in Birmingham, Ala.
He started his training early during his junior year by attending Fort Sill in Oklahoma. After completing training, Jason spent six years in the military.
He had aspirations of becoming an officer, but he realized that the wait to become an officer took a substantial amount of time, so he decided to engage in the Green to Gold program to earn a degree.
Since his father was already attending the University of Tampa, and UT offered a similar degree that he was interested in versus other neighboring colleges, he decided to enroll for the spring semester of 2009.
“I was in the army, and the army has a program where I could come to school with no paper work and I can go back in as an officer,” Jason Canady said.
In the Green to Gold program, Jason is able to attend school for free. After he is done with school, he owes the military four years of service.
He found that the school was a good fit for him after researching the ROTC program and came to the realization that there were other people on campus seeking to earn a degree post-military.
Jason decided to major in criminology, after changing his mind from pursuing a degree managing information systems degree, so that he wouldn’t have extra stress from entering into a harder program that could take away from him going back to the military as an Active Duty Army Officer.
The father and son’s time together was not spent in school; most of the time they would bypass each other coming and going to class and over the course of two and a half years, they only had one class, environmental science, which they purposely took together.
“We really don’t see each other that much, a lot of my classes were during the day and a lot of my dad’s classes were during the night,” Jason Canady said.
The father and son appreciate how the professors go out of their way to help and connect with their students.
“[Professors] understand guys like my dad who hasn’t been in school for years and me, being out of school for six years, so they work with you and help you transition” Jason said.
Jason is fond of the fact that the school is so military supportive and that he can interact with other people who are like him going back to school from the military.
David is more captivated by the atmosphere of the campus and how scenic it is. Jason even tried to rush for a fraternity, but he came to find out he did not want that type of commitment while he was trying relax from being so committed in service.
After graduating this winter, Jason and David will be returning to their original careers except with new expectations for work.
“I will be commissioned the day before graduation, so I will be going back to the army,” Jason explained.
After graduating, Jason will return to the military as an officer. Where he will be stationed is currently unknown. Jason’s education within ROTC has helped him put more into perspective what type of officer he wants to become.
David will be able to return to work and apply his degree to his work.
“The company has capitalized on what I learned here, and they have sent me on assignments for videography and photography,” David said.
He explained how he has put his newly acquired job skills to work.
“I put together some communication packages for them for employee training and motivation- definitely a hands on job for sure,” he said.
David also encourages those who are older to get back in school if it really is what they want to do.
“It’s never too late. People come back to school for valid reasons.”
Shantora Perkins can be reached at shashap2011@gmail.com.