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This article appeared in the Fall 2024 Edition of Curry Magazine
By Abby White
If there’s one word that Dr. Chris Menton, Curry College Class of 1977, would use to describe himself, it’s grateful. Grateful for his education. Grateful for his career. Grateful for his family–his wife and two children–and the beautiful life he built for himself.
After struggling for many years with his schooling, it was Curry College’s Program for Advancement of Learning (PAL) that gave Menton the opportunity to redirect his life and receive a truly valuable education.
“It changed my life,” Menton said regarding his time in the PAL program. “Curry gives students the opportunity to turn their lives around.” And that is exactly what Curry did for Menton–it allowed him to turn his life around and find value in his work and life experiences.
Today, he chooses to give back to the College and to the program that did so much good for him. “Do for those who have done for you,” he said.
Having dropped out of high school at age 16, Menton finished his early schooling at a remedial school. After graduating, he started at California State Long Beach University where he took two courses before moving back to Boston and attending Boston State College for a short time.
It was Menton’s aunt who read an article about Curry College and the new Program for Advancement of Learning. For over 50 years, the PAL Program has provided resources to aid in learning for students diagnosed with learning differences, executive function challenges, and/or ADHD. As it sounded like a good fit for him, Menton’s aunt suggested he check it out.
“So, I did,” Menton said. “I met Dr. Gertrude Webb, who was the founder of this program, and she chatted with me about the program and took a look at my test results.”
Menton recalls that though he did not have a high enough GPA to transfer in at the time, it was Dr. Webb who allowed him to enroll under special circumstances, joining the program in its second year. Feeling that this was his last chance, he intended to take full advantage of this opportunity at Curry. Menton attributes his success at Curry to the help and support he received from teachers and peers but claims that “putting in the work is what makes it happen.” So, he put in the work, explaining that his roommates would often refer to him as the Hobbit in good humor, as he spent so much time hunkered down studying in his dorm room.
“I got to be a good student,” Menton explained. “It was like I finally got it, and then, I graduated.”
Before graduating, Menton received invaluable support from his teachers in the PAL Program, claiming his sociology professors “bent over backwards to make accommodations,” ensuring his success as he completed his bachelor’s degree while working full time in the prison system. He even recalls one of his tutors in the PAL Program, who he is still in touch with today, spending her lunches with him to make sure he stayed organized and ontask with his work. It was this combination of the support from his teachers and peers as well as his own hard work that allowed Menton to go on and lead a successful life and career.
Massachusetts Department of Correction working his way up from sergeant, lieutenant, supervisor of security and director of training. Though he recalls his work in the prison system as daunting and frustrating at times, Menton is proud of the work he did. And seeing as he held a high-risk position, he was able to retire early and reassess where he wanted to take his career. It was then that Menton decided to turn his life around once again, pursuing his doctorate in education from Boston University and going on to teach criminal justice at Roger Williams University.
Menton is now retired and an advocate for biking as a means of impacting levels of social civility and CO2. Biking has been a lifelong passion for Menton, as he recalls riding his bike from the North End to Curry for school every day. Residing in Bristol, Rhode Island with his wife, he continues his research on police bike patrols, teaches children and adults how to ride bikes properly and safely, and has even written and submitted bike curriculum to be taught at a college level. He has presented his research at the Stockholm Criminal Justice Symposium and most recently, the Rhode Island Transportation Forum.
After graduating, Menton went on to lead a successful 20-year career in the
“The programs that I participated in at the PAL program turned my life around,” Menton said as he reflected on how his education set the trajectory for his life and career. “And it left me with the feeling that that’s a capability we all have–to turn our lives around.”