Kyle Crock is making the most of his second chances, both of them, on his educational journeys at Virginia Peninsula Community College and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS). He’s a sophomore at the former and an intern at the latter.
“VPCC has become an institution I place high value in,” said Crock, an Isle of Wight resident. “I am really happy I came back and gave this dream a second chance.”
That dream involved a career in oceanography. However, his journey didn’t go as planned at the start.
Shortly after a six-year stint in the Navy, he enrolled at VPCC in fall 2022. Unfortunately, his financial situation changed, forcing him to drop out before the end of the semester.
Still, he took a lot from that experience.
“Without a doubt, the most important thing that happened that semester was that I took a geoscience class with Lynsey LeMay,” Crock said. “It was in this class that my recent past and my passions aligned. I missed being at sea and feeling connected to the ocean. The dream of becoming an oceanographer took flight.”
When he was looking to return to college last summer, he hesitated about returning to VPCC, but not because of anything the College did or didn’t do.
“I didn’t really want to come back to VPCC because I felt as if I had failed myself, my professors, and my future while here,” he said.
He reached out to VPCC for guidance. LaRhonda Johnson, the College’s dean of Retention and Student Success, set up a meeting, somewhat reluctantly on his part. In his mind, the decision was made. He was going to Tidewater Community College, which he briefly attended after graduating from First Colonial High School in 2010.
That quickly changed after the meeting with Johnson.
“We developed a plan to get everything back on track, and by the end of the day, I was enrolled in summer classes,” he said. “It was like going to the store for one item and walking out with a cart full. I had a renewed sense of hope.”
He’s glad she was able to persuade him to return to VPCC.
“Honestly, I’ve had a great experience since then,” he said. “Every professor has been amazing, so it’s just great to be back.”
His returns didn’t stop there, though. In his first stint at VPCC, he earned an internship at VIMS through LeMay. He’s back again.
“Once I came back to school, I wanted to see if I could get back into this and if they’d give me a second chance,” he said of VIMS.
They did, and he’s doing similar research. The first time it was with erosion on the coastal salt marshes. This time, it’s erosion on the barrier islands.
“I’m in a whole different lab now, same building, just different people,” he said.
He’s also participated in field work from San Francisco to Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore. He expects to be done at VPCC in another year or two, but he’s going to apply for co-enrollment with W&M after this semester.
He admits it took a lot of hard work on his part, but also knows he didn’t do it alone.
“Ultimately, opportunities were made possible because of the staff at VPCC,” he said. “It’s hard to say where I would be without a mentor like Lynsey LeMay, compassionate and understanding professors like Hannah Powers, Jaime Mead, Laura Stephens, or administrative staff like LaRhonda Johnson.”
He is more involved in campus activities, serving as president of VPCC’s Natural Science and Engineering Student Association, this time around. That’s on purpose.
“I want to help other students grow, gain exposure, and help them see what they can become,” he said. “I want to share these opportunities with other students and help them realize their own potential. Sometimes we all need just a little push. Someone in our corner. Someone to believe in us when we are at our lowest.”
He found those twice at VPCC and twice at VIMS.