John Honeycutt always loved making television. As a student at Medford High School, he was active in the school’s cable access TV studio, and figured he may be able to transfer the experience into a job someday.

“That’s what led me to Fitchburg State,” he recalled. “I didn’t know it was going to take me down this road.”

Chris Kibler’s first glimpse of Fitchburg State came on the track, and in a way he’s never looked back. He first competed at Elliot Field as a high school student from Bath, Maine.

“The facility was just gorgeous, so I looked into what programs the school had to offer,” Kibler recalled. He visited Fitchburg State three or four more times in the ensuing months. “Each time, it felt more like home.”

Brig. Gen. Frederick A. Henry’s long and storied military career has taken him across the U.S. and Europe, but he’s never forgotten the lessons he learned as an undergraduate at Fitchburg State. 

He grew up in an inner city environment in Cambridge, where by his own admission he wasn’t a strong student. 

“I constantly went off the reservation,” Gen. Henry recalled. “I would always go on another path.” 

As a teen, Gen. Henry was a part of the Upward Bound program, where he was encouraged to try attending Fitchburg State; if the experience didn’t work out, he was told, he could consider joining the Navy. 

Fitchburg State would prove a transformative experience.

Teaching middle school was a career change for Tammi Chandler, who began her professional career in the private sector, training adults in California. But the prospect of working with younger students also appealed to her.

After visiting friends in Fitchburg she planted roots—including starting a family—in the city and eventually at Fitchburg State, where she was impressed by the strong connection between the university and the Fitchburg Public Schools. Soon she was teaching at the middle school level.

“It was so much more fulfilling,” she said. “I wanted to work with at-risk children.”

For Ben DeTour ‘13, college was about taking full advantage of each and every opportunity. 

The Fitchburg State senior was just wrapping up his final semester of an internship at National Geographic Television in Washington, D.C. last spring when he had the chance to meet an alumnus whom he had been hoping to connect with for months. The two hit it off and a short time later, DeTour, originally from Belchertown, had a full-time job. 

Kerry Alcott of Groton also completed her distinguished Falcon career this spring, but not before setting a number of records as a member of the women’s softball team.

Alcott originally enrolled at Westfield State, but transferred to Fitchburg State two years into her career.

“A lot of factors influenced my decision to transfer, among them was the school’s amazing special education program,” Alcott said. “I also played softball against Fitchburg State and witnessed an incredible team atmosphere and I very much wanted to be a part of that.”