JESSI

 In July 1962, I spent two weeks at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York.  It was the summer before my senior year at Oswego High School (OHS).  I was there to participate in the Junior Engineers and Scientists Summer Institute (JESSI).  Perhaps this program was a reaction to Sputnik (1957).  

What was a future accountant doing there with engineers and scientists?  

My parents were filling my head with the point of view that a liberal arts education (like my brother Joel got at Dartmouth College) was wasteful.   Better to invest your time to study something that would lead directly to a job or a career (like my brother Paul did studying civil engineering at Penn).  

Not using my imagination, I decided that I, too, would study engineering at Penn, if I was accepted.

Another benefit of spending two weeks at Clarkson was to experience the freedom of being away from my mother, a preview of what would happen the following year when I would begin my college education.  At almost seventeen years-of-age, I was so ready to leave home.

We were housed in Clarkson dormitories and my roommate was a very likeable sort.  We got along great.  He was also from a small town in New York State.

Monday through Friday, we had introductory classes in various engineering and science courses taught by Clarkson professors.  I remember one such who walked to the blackboard, turning his back to the class, and wrote on it for the entirety of the class.  No communication, eye to eye.  Great teaching technique! 

On the weekend, we could walk into downtown Potsdam and look around.  Not much to see.  A little smaller than Oswego.  

Met a JESSI classmate in town from Rhode Island.  He bragged about his fake ID (no photos then) and his plan to seduce a local girl who would not be able to trace him in case she wanted to (or needed to).  You meet all kinds.  

In the fall, I studied Chemistry at OHS and lost my appetite for engineering.  After I was accepted at Penn, I saw they had a business curriculum and switched to it.  From there I was required to take a year of accounting and the rest of my professional life is history.