A Bentley High School graduate, Tom Shipley was part of Schoolcraft College’s first class back in 1964.
Tom Shipley remembers the first day of registration for the first class of Schoolcraft College.
The Bentley High School graduate had plans to attend a four-year university back in 1964, but then he was told about this new college opening in Livonia by Dr. Lois Waterman, the school’s first dean. With the Vietnam war draft looming large, he knew he needed to become a full-time student to avoid getting his number pulled. So he put on his best clothes and headed to the newly-created college, where he waited in line to register for classes. He and a lot more people.
“They were only expecting like 400 kids. Eleven hundred showed up,” he said. “People were lined up for registration.”
Now, 60 years later, Shipley lives right down the road from his alma mater. He recently shared his experiences during a visit back to campus.
He remembers seeing the administration building constructed first, complete with images of what the College would eventually look like. Those buildings all had the look of the Forum building.
The first place on campus was known as the “Plywood Palace,” just outside of the Forum Building and it was called that because it was more of a tent with a plywood floor.
Shipley said many of the same challenges and issues today’s students face were similar back in the 1960s. He and his fellow students all tried figuring out what classes to take, how to balance working with attending school and what they would eat throughout the day.
Given the College’s award-winning culinary arts program hadn’t started yet, students then relied on getting food elsewhere.
“If you want to go get something to eat, you’d had to go to Wintergarden Tavern at Seven Mile and Farmington. It was that or else you went to Plymouth Road to Daly’s, Big Boy’s or something,” he said. “There was nothing else out here. Absolutely nothing other than Hawthorne Center, Northville State Hospital or a Rent-It store at Six Mile and Haggerty.”
His first semester, he took several classes, including geology, English, French and biology. Several physical education classes were taken off campus on account of the gym not yet being built. Mr. Marv Gans, the physical education teacher, loved rugby, which led students to play plenty of it. Shipley remembers courses happening at Merri-Bowl in Livonia and at the psychiatric hospital in Northville Township.
Staying a full-time student was an important move for Shipley and many of his male classmates. If he wasn’t enrolled full-time, that meant they were eligible to be drafted.
“Twelve credits were the magic number to keep out of the draft,” he said. “If you went below 12, you gave the Selective Service office a visit.”
He graduated with his associate degree two years after starting, opting to transfer to Western Michigan University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in geography and history. Right before graduating, Shipley got word his number came up and he would be drafted after earning his degree. So instead of waiting, he opted to join the Navy, where he spent the next 30 years of his career.
He retired as a chief petty officer and later worked for the Department of Homeland Security before retiring.
It was Schoolcraft College where he developed his love of rocks. He now owns a wide collection of them, found during his time in the service where he traveled the world. He attributes this to the passion his instructors had.
While attending Schoolcraft College was a way to avoid being shipped to Vietnam, Shipley said it was a great experience to begin a new life in adulthood. It helped set him up for success for the rest of his life.
“You had to get up early in the morning, you had to dress yourself,” he said. “And there was nobody there to make you.”