{"id":1851,"date":"2012-11-01T21:58:18","date_gmt":"2012-11-01T21:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=1851"},"modified":"2016-02-16T21:24:37","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T21:24:37","slug":"patrick-bayle-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2012\/11\/01\/patrick-bayle-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick Bayle ’12"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Patrick<\/a>Augsburg offered Patrick Bayle \u201912 more than an education\u2014the College gave him confidence to meet and later exceed his goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up at 44 years old with a chronic addiction issue, no marketable job skills, and no GED,\u201d Bayle said. \u201cI was in early recovery from that addiction, and it was evident to me that I needed to go to school or at least do something that would allow me to begin to put together a career.\u201d<\/p>\n

During 2003, Bayle was living in Cabrini House, a Minneapolis-based transitional housing program where he and other adults received support services to help them maintain sobriety. Residents were encouraged to set life-changing goals with program staff and to build connections to their surrounding community by developing a wide support system of neighbors and friends.<\/p>\n

The recovery program empowered its residents to determine their personal and family objectives, and to take the steps needed to achieve them. Bayle consulted his case manager, and \u201cshe recommended that I take a look at Augsburg\u2019s weekend college program,\u201d he said. \u201cIt certainly looked like something that would fit into the plan I was putting together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back on track<\/h2>\n

After completing his high school degree equivalency in 2004, Bayle enrolled in the Augsburg Weekend and Evening College. He participated in Augsburg\u2019s TRiO program<\/a>, funded by the U.S. Department of Education to assist students to overcome class, social, and cultural barriers to complete their education. Bayle qualified for TRiO as a first-generation college student and\u2014as with all program participants\u2014benefited from its academic, financial, and personal services.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an interesting haul to get my degree,\u201d said Bayle, who has encountered a litany of events since his first year at the College. \u201cI\u2019ve moved five times. I have experienced a triple-bypass. I\u2019ve lost my mother and my brother. I\u2019ve witnessed three of my nieces and nephews get married and start having families, and I\u2019ve stayed sober the entire time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bayle also has secured four different jobs in the eight years he has attended Augsburg. From his first visit to campus, Bayle knew it could take longer than four years for him to earn his degree, but he was determined to finish school at his own pace.<\/p>\n

Augsburg faculty members also encouraged Bayle to persist to graduation. Glenda Dewberry Rooney, professor of social work, was \u201cone of the main reasons that I stayed my first year,\u201d Bayle said. \u201cI got \u2018spooked.\u2019 I\u2019d lived a very undisciplined life and having an academic career requires discipline. I didn\u2019t know how to do that.”<\/p>\n

But Dewberry Rooney was \u201can excellent motivator and teacher,\u201d Bayle said, and \u201cshe taught me that the journey is always inward\u2014to ask yourself \u2018How do you make sense of the world?\u2019 and \u2018How would you help others?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Meaningful work<\/h2>\n

Bayle responded to Dewberry Rooney\u2019s question with action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty self-evident when I got sober that my life would be dedicated to helping others in that sort of endeavor, but that\u2019s broadened out considerably since then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bayle has worked for organizations that serve the Twin Cities\u2019 recovery community since he began attending Augsburg. He has worked for Cabrini House and The Salvation Army\u2019s Minneapolis Harbor Light Center, which provides its clients with emergency assistance, shelter, chemical dependency treatment, and other services. Bayle also has served Prodigal House, a leading relapse-prevention treatment center, and he currently is employed by St. Stephens Human Services as a case manager.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As a communication studies major, Bayle uses the skills learned in his Augsburg classes each workday. \u201cCommunication informs my vocation at all levels,\u201d he said. \u201cTomorrow I may speak to our program\u2019s funders. The next day, I might work in a homeless camp or shelter,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Bayle has traveled to major cities across the United States to attend recovery events and to serve as a non-profit consultant. He said that his college education gave him the confidence to serve his community on local and national levels.<\/p>\n

Augsburg has been \u201ca springboard to getting engaged,\u201d he explained. \u201cMy ability to succeed academically\u2014which is something I never thought I could do\u2014has projected me outward from Augsburg. I came here to get my fuel\u2026and then I go burn that fuel in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then and now<\/h2>\n

Today Bayle has achieved many of the goals he established for himself in the early days of his sobriety. He has developed a vast support system that is made up of \u201ca network of friends and associates through Augsburg and my work,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I stand back and look at it, I\u2019m as surprised as anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December 2012, he is slated to complete his degree\u2014an accomplishment that demonstrates how persistence pays off even when work priorities, family pressures, health issues, and life intercede in the academic schedule of a non-traditional student.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that I could have gotten a degree at a school that didn\u2019t understand us non-traditional students,\u2019\u201d he explained. \u201cThe strength of Augsburg\u2019s program is the fact that they\u2019ve been doing it for a long time, and they understand the needs that adult students have.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an experiential learner; I\u2019m not an academician,\u201d he explained. \u201cI need to have experience with something for it to make sense to me. And I have had many great experiences at Augsburg.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Augsburg offered Patrick Bayle \u201912 more than an education\u2014the College gave him confidence to meet and later exceed his goals. \u201cI woke up at 44 years old with a chronic addiction issue, no marketable job skills, and no GED,\u201d Bayle said. \u201cI was in early recovery from that addiction, and it was evident to me <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-1851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-fall-2012"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1851"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6529,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1851\/revisions\/6529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}