WM Grad Craves Challenges, Hopes to Teach in Urban Schools

By Amber Lester Kennedy Sunday, May 15, 2011

 

If there’s an easy route, Anthony Tyrkala doesn’t take it.

 

He didn’t have to join the Army right out of high school, but it was the only way to pay for college. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to walk on to the William and Mary football team as a grad student, but he wanted to try. And after he graduates with his masters in secondary education, he doesn’t have to pursue a job in an inner city school, but that’s where his heart is.

Tyrkala will become the first member of his family to earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degree today when he graduates from The College of William and Mary School of Education. He hopes to teach social studies in an urban school similar to the schools he attended in his hometown of Tampa, Fla.

He was always a good student, earning straight A’s until 8th grade, when he says he lost focus. By the time he graduated high school in 2002, his options were slim. He wasn’t going to get any academic scholarships, his family couldn’t afford to pay for college, he said, and he liked the idea of serving his country in the Army. “I recognized my life needed more structure,” he said. “I knew staying in Tampa would not be a good idea. There was a lot of violence around me, and a lot of bad stuff there that’s easy to get caught up in.”

He joined the Army, and spent 2002 to 2007 as an Air Traffic Controller, first in Germany before serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan. When he returned to the states, he was stationed in New York, where he was finally able to begin his college career at the State University of New York-Potsdam.

When his wife was transferred to Ft. Eustis, he scrambled to apply to the School of Education with only a month left before the application deadline. He was admitted, and then set his sights on another challenge: playing college football. He just had some small obstacles – no experience playing for his high school or his college. Even the famous “Rudy” Ruettiger had more experience on the field before he walked onto the team at the University of Notre Dame. Tyrkala did, however, play for the Watertown Red & Black, a semi-professional team based in Watertown, New York.

“I thought about it and I figured it would be another challenge,” he said. “I contacted the team, they explained the walk-on process and how unlikely it was and that was just extra motivation.”

He was added to the roster for the 2010 season, and mostly played in practices, with some experience playing special teams. He dressed for five games. Defensive Coordinator Scott Boone said it was the first time in his eight years with the Tribe that he could recall a graduate student walking on to the team.

“I don’t think we’d ever seen anything like that before,” he said. “He knew it was his first year and it’s not like he was building for a future career. He was just taking one shot and making the most of it.”

Tyrkala said playing for a Division I team was an affirmation of his ability. “I thought I could make it, and really wanted to know,” he said. “While it was different for me to go from being a starter with my semi-pro team to being a practice squad player, I was not discouraged that I did not get more of an opportunity on the field. I really learned how important each member of the team was, and all of the players truly embraced me.” The camaraderie was similar to what he felt in the Army, he said, and when football was over, he joined the rugby team having never played the sport.

Because he was a first-year football player, he ended up spending much of his time with the freshmen, who Boone said really respected Tyrkala. “He had a lot of things the other guys didn’t have, like a wife and time in the Army and graduate school – a whole life that those younger guys didn’t understand,” he said. “He did exactly what he was told to do, and it was refreshing to see that.”

Tyrkala admits that he couldn’t resist the urge to impart wisdom to the younger players. “With everyone, I was giving advice, talking like I was there for years,” he said, laughing. “I reminded them to go to class and would ask them how their grades went. It was all business to me!”

That mentorship happens in the classroom, as well. He just completed his student teaching at Phoebus High School in Hampton, where he taught four sections of World History II and one section of Advanced Placement Human Geography. His past experiences primed him to lead the class. “I think my experiences help in any classroom. The students see that I’ve been around the world, that I’m young and that I find it [social studies] interesting,” he said. “It makes them wonder what it is about social studies that I latch onto.”

To engage the students, he shares stories about his life, the time he spent defending the country and what life was like in his hometown of Tampa. “I teach out in the open,” he said. “I try to tell them everything about me so they know me as a person.”

Next, he hopes to teach in either Miami or Washington, D.C. public schools. The latter school district is infamous for its struggles to retain good teachers and meet benchmarks, but Tyrkala likes a challenge. “I do! I don’t know why,” he said. “I make everything harder than it has to be.”