Wow, 40 years since we left high school! Where has the time gone? It seems so fast to me!

The last 40 years have been good to me. I have been in good health, have a good job, wonderful family, special friends, live in a great climate and location (an urban area 4 hours from the mountains and two hours from the beach), and have had fun vacations.

After high school I went to University of Bridgeport in Connecticut and then transferred to Penn State the summer of 1974 and majored in social work. During the summer of 1975, I did an internship at Boston Children’s Hospital. I got out in November 1975 with a BA in Social Work. I applied for jobs around the Boston and Pittsburgh areas and ironically got one 3 blocks from my house in Mt. Lebanon. In January 1976 I became Recreation Director at the old Ward Home for Children on Moffett Street. I lived at home and saved money until I started, in August 1977, the MSW program at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. My focus was on Administration, Planning, and Policy rather than Clinical Social Work. In the summer of 1978, I had a great experience as a legislative intern on Capitol Hill working for our former Congressman from Mt. Lebanon.

Living in the south, I was given a southern name so now I am known as Drew as Andrew was just too formal! Of course, living here I learned that people breathe basketball especially during March Madness and I have become a Tarheel fan.

 During grad school I had the opportunity to visit my friend’s home in Manteo and sat on top of Jockey’s Ridge. It was February with 72* with blue skies.  It was then that I realized I could not return to the cold, rainy, raw, and overcast/gray weather of the ‘burgh. 

I graduated in June of 1979 with my MSW. In October 1979 I moved to Raleigh and became Director of Residential Services for the Wake County Department of Social Services (now called Human Services) and ran a 6- bed emergency 90 day shelter for abused, neglected, and delinquent children and youth. In September 1989 I took on the responsibility of running another 6 bed shelter for 5 – 12 year old children; the other shelter went from co-ed to adolescent boys and I also became supervisor of a therapeutic foster care program.

I waited until I was 34 before I got married in November 1988 to Sally Migliore. In October 1989, my son Adam was born and three years later my daughter Joanna was born.

After 21 years of being on call and supervising a staff of about 20 full and part time staff, in September 2000, I became a Program Manager with the county’s 4-H Youth Development program overseeing several programs and community initiatives with a focus on prevention rather than intervention or treatment.

In January 2006, my mother died of leukemia after a 7 month battle with the disease and in December 2007 I moved my father here to live in a senior living community from our home of 50 years. He just turned 90 this past May and is thriving here – in very good health, still driving, and his mind is still sharp.

In June 2008 Adam graduated from high school and received a prestigious 4 year scholarship to attend the University of NC. He graduated this past May with a degree in Environmental Science with minors in City and Regional Planning and Geography. He was very fortunate to get a very good job with a private planning firm in this area. 

Joanna graduated from high school last year and is attending a very small four year school called Lees-McCrae in Banner Elk located in the mountains of Western NC and is studying elementary education. She has been a dancer since she was 8 years old and continues this interest in college.

Sally has been a leader in the non-profit field and is now working for a large state-wide foundation. I am still employed with Wake County Government after 33 years and married almost 24 years!

I look forward to reconnecting with many of you in October!