Starting second career, together
By MICHELE MILLER
Published December 14, 2006
NEW PORT RICHEY - She was terrified of math. He wasn't so great when it came to English. One helped the other, and vice versa, and now here they are: ready and raring for Take 2.
Take 2 would be the beginning of a second shared career - this time in radiography - for Michael and Corrie Boyer of New Port Richey. After the holidays, she'll be working at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Hudson. He'll be starting a new job at Community Hospital in New Port Richey.
But first, the husband and wife donned cap and gown and got their associate of science degrees last week with 215 of the 785 graduates receiving degrees and certificates at Pasco-Hernando Community College. Michael, who was the student speaker for commencement, planned to talk about overcoming adversity, practicing teamwork and being able to adapt in an ever-changing work force.
This wasn't the plan when the two met in July 1999, somewhere in the middle of the second shift at the US Airways maintenance hangar at Tampa International Airport.
"We met at the time clock," said Corrie, 38.
Fast-forward a few years, and the couple were living comfortably, bringing in about $100,000 a year between them.
Then, in January 2003, both were laid off.
"It was scary," said Michael, 42. "We had a mortgage, car payments, credit cards just like everybody else."
They could have opted for a transfer, but they had done that before - a few too many times. He has worked in Pittsburgh, Akron, Ohio, and Canton, Ohio. She has worked in Syracuse, N.Y., and Charlotte, N.C.
So they sat down the night they lost their jobs and laid out their options, weighing stability, job security and staying put.
"We decided it was time to change before we got any older," Michael said.
They dipped into their savings and worked as much as they could. He was a circulation manager for the St. Petersburg Times. She was a certified nursing assistant at Tandem Health Care.
And they went back to school.
"We looked into the registered nurse program, and I thought about nuclear medicine," Michael said. "But I didn't have the chemistry (prerequisite)."
So they opted for the radiography.
"It was intimidating at first - especially when you're sitting next to a 16- or 17-year-old in class," Michael said. "Some of these kids are still in high school in the dual enrollment program, and you're over twice their age."
"And, of course, the math is so easy for those kids who just came from math," Corrie said.
Between the two, they overcame their initial fears. They took all of their classes together - sitting side by side - and learned about all 206 bones in the human body by studying often.
"Whether he liked it or not," said Corrie, who turned out to be a real taskmaster.
"She was always the study person. I wanted to play," said Michael, adding that their spoiled poodle, Podee Boy, was a little put out by the lack of attention during those serious study sessions.
While still in school, they got married and became known on campus simply as "the Boyers."
Jayme Rothberg, the radiology program coordinator who taught the Boyers, said back in the '80s, most of her students were right out of high school.
"It used to be that they were beginning their careers. Now they're mostly returning students: displaced homemakers or people starting their second careers," Rothberg said. "But this is the first time I've ever had a husband and wife team.
"Their team approach seemed to work. They're excellent students. They both won academic excellence awards. And they have a 4.0."
The Boyers are also members of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society and the Lamda Nu national honor society for radiologic and imaging sciences.
While Michael said he's done with school, his wife thinks she might just be ready to go it alone. "I'll probably be a professional student," she said with a giggle. "Maybe get my (bachelor's degree) in teaching."
For now, the two think they are in pretty good shape.
"We're entering a whole new career, and we've got job stability," Michael said. "We're very comfortable in knowing we can take our knowledge and go anywhere in the country."
Michele Miller can be reached in west Pasco at (727) 869-6251 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505. Her e-mail is miller@sptimes.com.