Why Do You Want to Come to ECU?
ECU memories submitted by alum Thomas B. Carroll, '61 & '63 in honor of the centennial.
In the Spring of 1957 I was a Senior at Needham B. Broughton High School. In high school although I had taken a College Preparatory track, my efforts on the "books" would not qualify as having been serious. I had applied for admissions to East Carolina College and hoped that my athletic prowesswould gain me a favorable ruling from the Office of Admissions. However, Dr. Orval L.
Phillips, the Registrar and Director of Admissions had other ideas. He sent me a letter telling me that he wished to see me regarding my application to ECC and to make sure that my parents came with me to the interview.
On the appointed date and time, my parents and I reported to Administration Building to see Dr. Phillips. As is the custom in such situations, we were allowed to wait in his outer office long enough for the tension in the room to become thick enough to cut but only with a very sharp knife. Finally we were escorted into Dr. Phillip's office, which was piled high with folders awaiting admissions to the College.
Dr. Phillips, as I was to learn, wasted no time getting around to the issue at hand. His opening salvo was, "Just what makes you think you are prepared to come to East Carolina?" To which I gave some inane respond like, "To get an education and prepare myself for life." He then asked, "Then why did you waste a perfectly excellent chance at Broughton to prepare yourself to do just that?" And, it went downhill from there. He told me that just because Ray Martinez, the Swimming Coach, wanted to give me a partial athletic scholarship East Carolina only enrolled "Student/Athletes," and while I might be adequately prepared for the "Athlete" part, I certainly wasn't prepared well enough for "freshman class" because it looked to him like I was more interested in "attending not finishing college."
At this point in the one-sided discussion, I sensed that Dr. Phillips was seeking a reason to stretch the enrollment requirements so he could give me a chance to prove myself. I told him that he was right that I had virtually wasted a golden opportunity to have fully prepared myself for college enrollment but that I had taken a full College Preparatory program in high school, with extra mathematics and science courses, been a four year letterman in two sports, held a part-time job, kept the family's large garden and yard maintained, and been a member of the U. S. Corps Reserve while in high school. I assured him that if he would give me a chance I would prove to him that I was worth his trust and the risk.
Dr. Phillips, turned to my parents and asked, "Is Thomas worthy of such an opportunity." Knowing my parents always told the unvarnished truth, I held my breath, waiting for their answer. In a very soft but firm voice they nearly answered in unison, "He had better be." With that Dr. Phillips turned back to me and said, "All right, Mr. Carroll, you have you chance. Be here next Saturday morning at 8:00 to take the College's placement test. If they show you can handle college level classes you will be a member of the Freshman Class of 1958."
I never saw Dr. Phillips, before his untimely death, on the campus or in town that he did not inquire about my parents, and ask me for an update on my progress both in the classroom and in my swimming. It gave me much pride to not only complete a Bachelor's degree at East Carolina but to continue on for a Master's also. Two additional things occurred after I was granted a chance to prove myself by Dr. Phillips: 1. I was able to pledge and become a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, which made Dr. Phillips and me Brothers, and 2.
because of the excellent education I obtained at ECC I was able to gain entry into the doctoral program in Adult and Community Education as a Community College Administrative Intern at North Carolina State University and graduate with a Doctorate in Education degree in 1971.
