Roger Chatell:  

ompleted my Associate of Arts degree in Social Work. It was rewading, because it sort of nullified my embarassing GED. Classes were great, much more relaxed than high school, which I hated, and I could be expressive. Why social work? Well, funny story... at the time I wanted to work for the Boy Scouts of America, and you need a college degree to do that. So I looked over the catolag like a menu, trying to select a major. Having never been involved with or exposed to any type of therapy, I did not know what Social Work was. Honestly, I thought it was some sort of recreational activity work... like running dances, playgrounds, community events... not so! But I learned to like the profession, and I did just fine! I interned for the Scouts, then for the YMCA, then really got the good one, Probation and Parole at the Kent County Courthouse. 40-year-old drug defendants would come to me to sign up for probation, at the tender age of 19... it was weird, because it was the first time grown adults treated me as an authority figure! After graduation, I was off to transfer to Rhode Island College in Providence, starting in 1995. I remember the computer labs, where we had this new fangled service called "e-mail"... the internet web came to school a year or so later! RIC was kind of cool, but it was evident that what I learned in micro therapy at CCRI was much more valuable than this macro junk they were pushing at RIC. Working 40+ hours a week, and getting married somewhere in there, I pushed to finish my senior year in 1999, interning at the coveted placement, the Rhode Island Training School for Youth... i.e., the kid-jail (don't tell DCYF I said that). My unit worked primarily with teenagers who were sexual offenders, which almost always meant they were previously victims of the same crimes. Sad how that works, huh? I also did some gang work, as many residents were southeast asian. That was a super experience, barring its awful ending. Even though for years I had been a milieu therapist working with adolescents with behavior disorders, already in the workforce, RIC's School of Social Work said I wouldn't make a good social worker, and they were kicking me out, a couple of weeks before graduation. How do you like that? Thanks jerks! The college president told my attorney that I was "trouble". So after a farce of a legal dispute, I picked up the pieces and did another year as a Psycology major instead... with most of my work from CCRI helping in that quest, as opposed to the work accomplished at the School of Social Work at RIC. In 2000 I graduated from RIC with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. With my newborn son Ricky, my wife Cheryl, and my mother looking on, I accepted my degree from the college president, and told him on stage, "I am not trouble." Workplace I earned my first dime as a paperboy for the Pawtuxet Valley Daily Times in West Warwick, RI. My first day on the job was my 12th birthday, September 26, 1985. Also in town on that day: Hurricane Gloria! Hey thanks alot, world; way to give me a first impression of work, delivering newspapers in a hurricane! After a couple of years on the job, and now in high school, I needed a real job. Plus with Hendricken's tuition, I wanted to help my poor mother with the bill for this not so cheap education. So I got a job in 1988 at Papa Gino's in Warwick, RI... long gone from that location now. I was trained in the grill, and after a year or two, they eventually trusted me with pizzas. Here I learned the great art of tossing the dough in the air... chicks dig that you know! After two years, believe it or not, the manager of the local d'Angelo's was courting me to work for her instead. So now at 17 in 1990, I was taking orders in Arctic. Actually, I worked with some great folks there, and I like to still stay in touch with some. We had a great time at d'Angelo's. One girl who I didn't get along with too much was Cheryl Grenon. We hated one another for a year or so... and what do you know, we eventually started dating and got married! Although we still grumble at one another for old time's sake. I worked at other locations too, like Warwick, Coventry, North Kingston, and Providence. Did that for a good six years or so. In 1994 I went to put my schooling to use, driving a van and working at a day care for the Kent County YMCA. Well, that was a blast, not. In the summer of 1995 at age 21, I fulfilled a childhood dream and worked on the Medicine Bow Staff at Yawgoog Scout Reservation, where I earned enough cash to buy an engagement ring, and stop our routine break-ups for good! After working in Olneyville d'Angelo's with no other job prospect in sight, I got called on an old resume I sent out to work at the Blackstone Adolescent Counseling Center for Community Counseling Center in Pawtucket. Here, I worked on an awesome team of clinical professionals working with adolescents with behavioral and emotional disorders as a Milieu Therapist from 1996-2001. The pay was good, I was using my degree, and I mostly worked third shift where I watched alot of TV and tried (often successfully) to remain awake! That was an amazing experience, and I grew alot there. But after five years, it was getting old. As a teenager, I wanted to work for the Boy Scouts of America, an organization that molded my childhood. But by now, I knew that it was all business, money, and politics; wearing a suit, and having no interactions with youth as a volunteer does. I had discounted this career in college. But I started to renew this line of thinking. It was my wife Cheryl that encouraged me. I was used to making a direct impact on a small number of Scouts as a volunteer. She said that as a professional, I would make an indirect impact on hundreds of Scouts. I started as a district executive in Narragansett Council in Providence in 2001, serving the greater Woonsocket area. My assignment also included being camp director at Cub World, which was by far the best part of the job and the best experience of my life. I ran a staff of 30 and had 1000 campers in a summer, while managing its $100K budget and eliminating its $50K operating deficit. Words cannot express the love I have for the camp and my staff. The relationships I made at camp in those three years were priceless, and I will always remember Cub World very, very fondly. I was also the advisor to the Catholic Committee for the dioceses of Providence and Fall River, as well as the Special needs Scouting Committee. In 2005, I accepted a promotion to Senior District Executive in Connecticut Rivers Council in East Hartford, serving 2500 Scouts in southeastern Connecticut, and advising the advancement and Norwich Diocese Catholic Committees as well. So far, so good!