Student for life: Joseph Yacono III, Class of 2012

This article was posted as a feature graduate story for the 2012 Graduation Commencement at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Just another great Jersey Trooper success story!

By Kenna Caprio

Fairleigh Dickinson University graduate student Joseph Yacono III did not anticipate donning a cap and gown and marching at commencement.

And yet, he found himself on the Metropolitan Campus at the Graduate Salute in mid-April picking up that cap and gown.

“Commencement is not for me — it’s more for my family and friends,” says Yacono. “As a student, the achievements come when you get the grade.”

Academic achievements came a little later in life for Yacono, a 45-year-old cancer survivor, state trooper, army veteran and Pitman, N.J. resident.

“Our school, Fairleigh Dickinson, opened my eyes to the importance of education,” says Yacono. “I thought life experience was more important than ‘wasting money’ on reading books and sharing ideas with others. Man, was I arrogant.”

Yacono’s journey back to the classroom started several years ago as he and his wife Lorie sat down to discuss the future. While making a checklist for retirement — New Jersey state troopers are required to retire at the age of 55 — Yacono realized that he did not see himself “anywhere without an education,” he says. “My wife challenged me to go back to school.”

Wife Lorie has an accounting degree from what was Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, daughter Alyson studies physical therapy at University of the Sciences and son Joe majors in mechanical engineering at Drexel University.

“(I was the) only person without a degree, and we’re very competitive here,” says Yacono laughing.

Around the time Yacono resolved to go back to school, Roger Kane — FDU’s Director of Petrocelli College Transfer Student Services — spoke at the local police barracks about the Bachelor of Arts in individualized studies.

The B.A. individualized studies degree offers students the opportunity to study at 55 locations throughout New Jersey. Classes are held at state police barracks, community colleges and National Guard buildings. Most students are “service providers,” working as law enforcement officers, state troopers, firemen, and emergency medical technicians or are in the military or homeland security fields, says Kane. Students in the program usually enter with some college credits, either looking to finish their degrees in an effort to move up in their careers or are planning to retire and work in a different sector.

Fairleigh Dickinson University had three important things Yacono was looking for: satellite learning locations, online classes and a manageable cost.

“We try to make the transition back into school and going to school as simple as possible so that they can run their jobs, lives and family and just go to school,” says Kane.

But for Yacono, enrolling in classes would prove to be harder than just picking up the phone or registering online.

Not long after he decided to hit the books, he encountered a major health setback.

Diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma — a form of skin cancer — in 2007, Yacono’s plans for higher education had to wait. The cancer, which appeared on the base of his tongue and lymph nodes, forced Yacono to undergo a total of three surgeries in four weeks. Doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, who were pioneering Trans-Oral Robotic Surgery, treated Yacono. During the surgeries, doctors removed 20 lymph nodes and Yacono underwent 32 radiation sessions. He had a feeding tube for three months.

“You think you’re going to die,” says Yacono of being that sick. “And when you’re a trooper you feel like you’re never going to die.”

Yacono’s memory also suffered during his illness and he took to writing everything down to remember it.

Still, Lorie didn’t give up on Yacono returning to school, giving him the nudge he needed. “My wife said, ‘You have to show your kids that you can do it at any age and (that it takes) a little bit of hard work to achieve your dreams,’” he says.

As Yacono’s recovery progressed, his health improved and so did his prognosis. “I accepted the challenge to enroll at FDU in the fall of 2010,” says Yacono. He graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in individualized studies in the summer of 2011 and will graduate with his MAS, master’s of administrative science, this May.

“My tunnel vision has opened to a newly improved wide-angle lens,” he says of his education and diagnosis. “I see life more clearly with my faith, lessons learned from fellow classmates, and some wonderful professors.”

In fact, the cancer diagnosis informed Yacono’s choice of a master’s program and thoughts for his post-trooper career.

“Cancer kind of shaped me into who I am today,” says the graduate student.

The civil servant wants to continue to help people after retiring from the force. “I think my education will help me be able to advocate for cancer patients, in human resources or as a patient’s advocate.” During his time at Penn, he appreciated the close connection between the hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. And in considering his future, he thinks of those kids at CHOP who haven’t yet traveled the world or had their own family.

“I want to take the burden from my mind and help somebody else,” says a humble Yacono.

“I see a little bit of myself in Joe,” admits adjunct professor George Wren, a retired state trooper. Wren taught Yacono in a leadership development seminar and says Yacono is interested in “gaining the insight about the people around him, and that’s good quality,” says Wren.

Yacono’s degrees, Kane notes, will help advance him as a trooper and provide a path for him after retirement. When evaluating and promoting their troopers, the state police take into account educational background.

“Joe is just a home run,” says Kane.

But Yacono may not see it that way, instead choosing to describe himself as “not really flashy.” He is content to have completed his degrees and to apply his global education to life and work.

“Now I’m not afraid to retire from my job and now I feel like I have something to hold on to,” says Yacono of graduating. “It’s an important part of life, shaping your education.”
And, oh yes, the FDU alum is cancer-free as he approaches the five-year anniversary of his diagnosis on June 7. Home run indeed.

Yacono and wife Lorie pose for a picture in front

of the view of Old City on a trip to Israel.

Featured Former Jersey Trooper

            I’ve taken this opportunity to feature a former Jersey Trooper some might recall, most - probably not, but one whose scholastic abilities set the pace for his career and the remainder of his life.  Recalling his youth, he ran everywhere.  He was only ten when his father sent him off on an errand to the store in downtown Pitman for a pack of cigarettes.  Running the full half-mile trek he quickly made the purchase and was midway home in full sprint when an unsuspecting lady opened the door from inside her parked car just as the swift footed youngster passed by.  Colliding full force with the massive hulking car door, the young, weightless runner bounced wildly into the street.  Immediately, he shook off the violent collision, jumped up and scurried away, unaware of the gash the imposing car door left upon his head. 

            Fearful for the boy’s safety, the concerned lady summoned the local police and gave a detailed description of youth.  The officers were well aware of the boy’s identity, not because of any delinquency, but because of their amazement of his running ability.  Every time they saw him he was running, and he was fast.  Proceeding to his home they found him in the confidence of his father, the local auto mechanic, a white towel held upon head, blood stained from the gash he received in his collision with the weighty car door.  A ride in the police car to a nearby doctor for a few stitches was all that remained of the mishap.  But that didn’t slow him down.

            Eight years later, this 1949 graduate of Pitman High School, left an outstanding mark as both an athlete and student leader.  In football, he lettered three years, playing end on offense and in the backfield on defense.  In his senior year the team was Tri-County Champions, loosing just one game to a non-league opponent, Lower Regional.  Their 8-1 record was the best in Pitman’s history.

            At only 135 lbs. and one of the smallest players on the field you can imagine that football wasn’t his premier sport, but his speed was a constant threat on every play.  His greatest success however was in track.  As a freshman and sophomore he was an excellent quarter-miler, achieving Tri-County and South Jersey Group I Championships in that race.  Doubling that distance, he is considered as one of Pitman’s best ever half-milers, where he won all but two races as a junior and then going undefeated as a senior, winning Tri-County, the South Jersey Group I Championship, and finally being the New Jersey State Group I Champion.

            His 1946, 47 and 48 teams were Tri-County Champions, and the 1946 and 47 teams also won the South Jersey Championships.  In 1949, the team won the Bridgeton Relays, a first ever for a Pitman High team.  But South Jersey was only local news.

            The successes of the Pitman team qualified them to participate in the Penn Relays in all four years.  The 1946 team captured first place in the mile relay.  But that wasn’t his personal highlight.  In 1949, his senior year he ran the third leg of the mile relay.  Receiving the baton, he was thirty yards behind the leader.  Through sheer determination he was able to make up the entire deficit and handed off the baton tied with the leader, a 51.8 quarter mile, better than the school’s stand alone quarter mile record.  An amazing accomplishment, shortly overshadowed by defeat, the team lost the race by one foot.

            As a senior he was president of the Student Council, active in the Dramatic Club, serving as president, and performing lead parts in both his junior and senior class plays.  Always artistic, he won third place nationally at Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh out of thousands of entries for abstract design.

            After graduating high school, he attended Kings College in Delaware, labored for a local cement mason, and then worked briefly for RCA and Dupont before enlisting in the New Jersey State Police in 1954. 

            Anyone who knows Lieutenant Alfred C. Mossop, #1337 (Ret.) knows he doesn’t stand still for long.  Always on the move, he hurried his way around Troops “A,” “C,” and “D” before being posted at Division Headquarters in the Community Relations Unit, and then lastly at Emergency Management before retiring in 1983, after twenty-nine years of service.

             Outside the State Police, Al served in the New Jersey National Guard for twenty-two years, retiring in 1972 at the rank of Major. Over the years he’s served on the Elk Township Resolution Committee, was President of the Jim Thorpe Lions Club, served as Regular Chairman of the Lions Club, and was Deputy Sheriff of Carbon County, Pa.

            Currently, Al serves on the Salem County Resolution Committee, and is a monthly regular at the Troop “A” retiree get-togethers at Bernardi’s Wheat Road Tavern in Vineland.

            Al was inducted into the Pitman High School Sports Hall of Fame on November 27, 2005, and the Gloucester County Sports Hall of Fame on March 28, 2006.

            After his retirement, Al and his wife Nancy relocated from South Jersey to Jim Thorpe, Pa., to Kissimmee, Fl., and then back to South Jersey.  It’s kind of like running that oval track in his younger days.  No matter how far you go, you always wind up where you started the race.  After four children, twelve grandchildren, and four great grandchildren you’d think he’d start to slow down.  Not even close.  I’ve known Al personally for thirty-eight years, and I still can’t keep up with him.   

   Lt. George Wren, #3680 (Ret.)

(As previously posted in the December 2011 issue of True Blue & Gold)