Once upon a time there was a young man who was an incurable schoolaphobic. No one could get him to attend school. Through ninth grade he was absent 80 or more days each year. At the end of ninth grade he dropped out and never attended high school. No one in his family had ever gone to college; why should he? The local community college saved this young man from walking down a dead-end path: He passed the high school equivalency test. The college then invited this junior high dropout to attend college classes. He accepted the offer. One semester he took a class called Principles of Economics, even though he had no idea what it was about and a lightbulb flashed. He went on to spend many… years studying economics at the University of Delaware, at the University of Maryland, and finally at Harvard University. Yes, thanks to Delaware County Community College, this junior high school dropout earned a graduate degree from Harvard. One sunny day many years later he returned to Delaware County Community College--to give the commencement speech to the graduating class of the year 2000. He told the graduates about his story, about how their community college had saved him, and about a class he once took called Principles of Economics. Then, after 15 rewarding years in the U.S. government, this not-as-young man decided to leave his position as a senior economist and return to serve the community college system that had once saved him. Today he teaches economics with great passion and joy to students who are struggling with life just as he was many years before.