Adam Goch received the 2008 Apollo Award, the college’s highest honor for two-year students. He was one of four finalists, all of whom received certificates of recognition at the May 3 graduation ceremony at Tropicanna Field.
Pictured above from left are: Stephen Watson, Adam Goch, SPC President Carl M. Kuttler Jr., Kacey Angel-Lee and Joseph Vincent-Tompkins.
Finalists Biographies
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Kacey Angel-Lee had always wanted to pursue a career in the medical field. Right out of high school, she trained as a certified nurse’s assistant and later became a licensed practical nurse. She started St. Petersburg College’s LPN to RN Transition Program, but then her two little boys took center stage in her life.
“I stayed home with them for seven years,” she said.
Once the boys got past the toddler stage, Angel-Lee returned to SPC, even though she continued to work full-time as a nurse. She started slowly, taking just a couple of classes at a time at the Clearwater Campus, but she persevered and will graduate in May with an Associate in Arts degree.
She plans to continue on to earn a bachelor of science degree in nursing.
With a husband, two children and a full-time job, Angel-Lee has had plenty of demands on her time. Still, she has managed to put together a 3.94 grade point average.
Now 30, Angel-Lee said she needed a college that could recognize her needs as a working wife and mom. St. Petersburg College filled that bill.
“SPC really caters to the working student, the person who is not traditional,” she said. “The only reason I am able to attend classes is that SPC offers them evenings and weekends as well as during the day. I have to work my schedule around kids, sports, school, husband, work and my babysitter’s schedule, and whatever hours are left are the hours when I can go to school. At SPC, I can always find a class somewhere.”
Though school is important, she always puts here two sons first, she said. “My boys didn’t choose to have mom going back to school, so I don’t make them suffer because of it.
She finds time to be involved in their school activities and all sorts of community projects. The Salvation Army, the restoration of Crest Lake Park and feeding the homeless are just a few of her community service activities.
“I do what I do because I enjoy it,” she said. “I have a high GPA because I believe in working hard, and my grades are my reward.”
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Adam Goch went to East Lake High School. He managed to score highly on his SAT test but he didn’t earn very good grades. When his high school days ended, he moved into the auto business and worked his way up to service manager. He started at St. Petersburg College, carrying a full load, as he continued to work full-time.
The combination proved too difficult, and he dropped out for a while until he and his best friend decided to return to school together.
Shortly after that, his friend was killed by a drunk driver. “That sad event caused me to buckle down and work even harder at my studies,” Goch said. “I earned straight As and participated in the Ethics Bowl Team, the Honors College and student government. I tried to make a difference in the community and at the college, and SPC really turned out to be my second chance.”
In addition to his service in student government and his involvement with the Honors College, Goch is president of Phi Theta Kappa. He has been involved in an on-campus food drive and has worked with a local church to distribute food to the homeless.
Goch, 23, maintains a 3.68 grade point average. He graduates in May and plans to go to the University of South Florida and major in economics and political science. From there, he plans to pursue a master’s degree in economics.
“When I first enrolled (in college) after high school, I was filled with apathy and a lack of motivation,” he said. “This college has taught me just how important hard work is and has illuminated for me life’s most important lesson: an unused mind is an unused life.”
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Justin Vincent-Tompkins
It wasn’t that Justin Vincent-Tompkins disliked his job as a cook. He simply came to realize that exciting new experiences in his life were going to be few if he didn’t go back to school and gain some new skills.
That’s what led him to St. Petersburg College.
Vincent-Tompkins graduated from Dunedin High School in 1999 and wasn’t motivated to go to college.
“There were a number of family issues in my life at that time, and I simply didn’t have much interest in going to college,” he said. “I got married, and my wife and I had our first child.”
He worked as a cook, and his wife was employed as a nursing assistant. Actually, it was his wife’s new job that got him thinking about returning to school.
“She transferred to a hospital, and when she did, she started learning new things and procedures,” he said. “I realized that I wasn’t going to have new experiences as a cook. I had done some good things as a cook, but I realized I needed to go back to school, so that’s what I did.”
He didn’t think he could get into a four-year college, but St. Petersburg College was nearby and reasonably priced.
“St. Petersburg College was the obvious choice,” he said.
Now 26 and a father of three, he has maintained a 3.90 grade point average at SPC. He is a member of the Honors College and president of Phi Theta Kappa on the Clearwater Campus in addition to being a youth minister and praise and worship leader at his church.
Through the Honors College, he was able to get an internship at Morton Plant Hospital, where he has worked in the histology lab.
“I’ve seen various aspects of pathology there, and I’ve had a chance to work with doctors and even view autopsies,” he said.
Vincent-Tompkins, whose major is biochemistry, graduates in May. He plans to continue his biochemistry studies at Stanford, and then go on to medical school.
“I have come a long way since returning to school, and I am grateful to St. Petersburg College for providing so many opportunities to grow,” he said.
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Stephen Watson knew something about St. Petersburg College’s Seminole Campus when he was still in high school. He lived in Seminole, not far from the campus, and his older brother was a dual enrollment student there, pursuing his high school diploma and his A.A. degree at the same time. Stephen decided to follow in his brother’s footsteps.
Watson, 19, graduated in December with an Associate in Arts degree and a 4.0 grade point average. He now attends the University of Central Florida, where he is an engineering major. He is thinking of going on for a master’s in engineering.
“Beyond that, I hope to work for a company in this area for a couple of years, and then go abroad to work as a missionary,” he said.
While he has moved on from SPC, he remembers the college fondly.
“It was wonderful at SPC,” he said. “The teachers were very, very good, and were good at not only teaching their fields, but also at encouraging their students. The teachers were the best part of SPC for me.”
The convenience of studying close to home was a big benefit for Watson.
“The dual enrollment opportunity was a great thing for me, too, and I was able to move forward much more quickly than I had planned.
Return to Apollo Award page.
