From the "Troubles of Northern Ireland" to America  

Life sure takes some unexpected twists and turns!
If someone had told me when I was 16, that my life was going to turn out the way it did, I would have assumed they'd spent a few too many hours in the pub!
Going back ages when I was attending St. Joseph's All Boy's Secondary School in Newry, Northern Ireland. I was 16, and for myself and most of the other
pupils, this would be our last year of school. Higher education is only reserved for the very few top students, and I was not among that group.

Did I really care about school at that point? NOT REALLY. I knew that whether I got a 90 or a 40 on my final exams, in June I'd be a member of the unskilled,
unemployed labor force at a time when there weren't enough jobs to go around. Having lived through the troubles and was starting to understand what was going
on I was finding myself getting involved and wanting to make a difference.

TWIST #1 - My parents got a call from a family I had visited twice before in the United States through Project Children. At 12 and 14 years old I had spent six
weeks during the summer at their house in Liverpool, New York. They were calling my parents to see if I would want to visit again in the upcoming summer. As
my parents voiced their concerns over my upcoming and so called graduation and lack of opportunities, my "American friends" offered to have me come to
Liverpool and continue my schooling. What did I have to lose? I packed my bags and headed across the Atlantic Ocean. To be noted that I came over to the United
States with less than $80 and 1 suitcase of shorts and t-shirts.

TWIST #2 - I entered Liverpool high school in September 1993. Since my education background wasn't that good I had to be a junior instead of a senior. I went
from a boy's only Catholic school of about 500 (and a lifetime of school uniforms) to about 2,000 Liverpool students of all different ethnic backgrounds and
wearing whatever they felt into that morning! I was taking American History (which could have been Greek, for all I knew); Regents English (where my writing
skills were so weak one paragraph could be 2 words or 200 words depending on my mood); and I had been dropped back to 9th grade math because my
background wasn't equal to the regular 11th grade New York student. Needless to say, I looked forward to gym class! But what I lacked in background, I made
up for in determination (a nice way of saying "stubbornness" a well-documented Irish trait). I had been given an unexpected opportunity, and I wasn't going to
give up without a fight!

TWIST #3 - At the age of 18 I wanted to keep going to school. I made it through Liverpool and didn't want to quit there. Two years before in Ireland I didn't even
show up for any of my final exams, and now I was looking for more! The next 2 years I spent enrolled at Cayuga College, Auburn New York. This not only
taught me a lot out of books, but also a lot about responsibilities, relationships, cooking, laundry and American Football. This is where I met my wife to be,
Jennifer. We were best friends for a long time and towards the end of my 2 years we were already deeply in love with each other. At the end of my Cayuga
career, I really thought I had learned enough. I wanted to get a job and start earning money for my own car, my own place, and my own "stuff" (let's face it, what
21 year old doesn't have a list a mile long of "stuff" they absolutely need). Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Immigration had a different opinion - If I didn't
stay in school, my visa was no good, and I would have to return to Ireland. Well as much as I loved my family back home, and friends, and also my country I
wanted to stay in the United States and finish what I had started. So after much cursing about the Immigration laws and debate with myself (and anyone else who
dared offer an opinion about everything), I applied to the State University of New York at Utica/Rome.

TWIST #4 - I had made a good choice! In spite of the fact that the schoolwork was harder at Utica, I was liking school more than I was in the past. The
atmosphere on campus was so much different than Cayuga College! There was more parties and people to party with that it made the choice of going back to
college worth it. By living in the dorms, I got the benefits of having friends around all the time, not just during the class day. Also, the attitude toward schoolwork
was more serious - these were all students who had successfully completed at least two years of school and understood the importance of a 4-year degree. That
attitude and ambition can be contagious. I stuck it through and Graduated with an Engineering Degree.

Unfortunately at the end of my university career the immigration debate re-surfaced, at this point I had it with INS, I was so sick of filling out paper work to stay
here, a form for this, a form for that. However all the f-in and swearing didn't change anything, I still had to deal with what was standing in my way. Fortunately
there was an option for me, with my F-1 Student visa, INS permitted foreign students who graduate with a Bachelor's Degree, 1 year of work, they call it
Practical Training. So again I have to fill out all the paper work to apply for this 1 year of Practical Training and then after that, I had to find a job. So after hours
of working on a resume and sending just about every Engineering company in the State of New York my resume and cover letter, no responses came in, I started
to worry, I had no interview experience, I had no idea what questions they were going to ask, how I was going to answer them. Finally I went to the College
Resource Center and they provided me with some books to read, how to make the perfect resume, interview questions etc. I also had signed up for some mock
interviews with other students who were also learning. Everything was going great, I thought I was learning enough to hold a conversation in an interview. I was
on monster, career builder, just about every job website there was sending my resume off. One morning about 2 weeks before graduation I got a call from the
Resource Center saying that MCI was coming to the College to interview upcoming graduates and if I was interested there was one more interview slot, well I had
no idea who MCI was, had never heard of them before in my life, I did some research on them after accepting the interview and seen that they were a
Telecommunications company, well I thought right off the bat their not going to hire me so I'll just go for the interview experience. Interview time comes and here
I am standing in my newly bought suit, looking as sharp as could be, but sweating buckets, I probably lost about 10 lbs just waiting, and I'm sure the beer was
just flowing through my pores. Cutting to the chase the interview went great, and I was told that if I got selected for the next round they would send me airline
tickets to come to MCI in Cary, North Carolina for a second interview with the hiring managers. Four weeks went by and no call, I was a nervous wreck because
I didn't want to go back home, all I would do was start getting back into fighting for the "cause" and possibly end up dead or in jail.

Phone rang one morning and that was the call I was waiting for, plane tickets were in the mail and I was heading to North Carolina, at this time I coudn't have
shown you were North Carolina was on the map, but hey I was going. The interview in North Carolina went great I got the job offer immediately after the
interview, the money was great. I was on this offer like a dog on a 3-legged cat, after accepting I had forgotten to mention that I wasn't a US Citizen and required
sponsor-ship for my year of pratical training, so I brought it up and MCI said no problem, we'll sponsor you. I almost fell out of my chair, I was so excited I
couldn't wait to get back to university to drink and celebrate and call everyone. We flew first class back to Syracuse, NY airport, my friend Brian had gotten an
interview also so we flew together and we drove his car to the airport, so off we went back to university to tell everyone and celebrate, and celebrate we did.

The next day the paper work for INS was in the mail, overnight mail. Weeks went by waiting for a response from INS, my start date for MCI was sometime in
March 2000, we were in December now, I thought I had loads of time for the paper work to get processed and for me to get relocated to North Carolina. Little
did I know that my start date had come and gone and no word from INS. I had taken 2 drug tests already for MCI, my manager at MCI was the nicest guy you'll
never meet, knowing my situation he pushed back my start date I believe 3 times, my friends had already moved to North Carolina and had been working and
paying the rent, some of which I was supposed to be paying and I was still stuck in New York. Finally one day the mail came from INS with my temporary work
visa, I immediately called MCI, set up a new start date, called my friends and told them I was on my way, made sure my room was still available off course. I left
New York the very next day.

I joined the work force, and boy was I relieved, it was so much weight lifted off my shoulders, I was now having the time of my life. Jennifer was still in the
picture, she was my support at the time, she held me within the land of the sane, believe me without her I would have gone nuts. She also graduated Cayuga
College and she had gone on to the State University of New York at Cortland. We remained a couple all through out our College years, she had one more year to
go when I had relocated to North Carolina, we made it through, she came to visit every couple of months on my paychecks as I was now the one with all the
money and hardly anything to spend it on except for partying etc. After Jennifer graduated she moved down to North Carolina, a move I never thought I'd get her
to make, but sure enough there was something in me she liked, so she made the trip, we got our own apartment, she got a job and we were back together again.
We got married in July of 2002 in Auburn New York. We bought a house in Cary, North Carolina where we still reside to this very day, no kids as of yet, but we
have the best two dogs in the world, Zoe and Baby (see pictures). We also have 2 cats that are a pain in the ass but lovable also, Guinness and Morgan (see
pictures), off-course the cats are named after two of Gary's favourite drinks.

So here I sit writing and thinking back over the road that got me to this point and wondering where that road will take me in the future. What twists will confront
me up ahead? Will I make good decisions? Will I know enough to take the hard road when it will benefit me in the end? Will I recognize an opportunity that may
not seem obvious?

Skipping past explaining the paper work and what we have had to go through to get where I am today, dealing with INS etc. I now have my US Citizenship, I took
my test and was swore in April 4th, 2007 at the Homeland Security Department in Charlotte, NC. Something I am very proud off and I owe it to my American
friends (especially Linda who if it wasn't for her I would not be writing this bio today), my wife Jennifer, and last but not least both Jennifer's family and my
family for the support they have given me throughout this and the encouragement they have given me to be whatever I wanted to be.

No matter what happens, I hope that the past 14 years have taught me the importance of keeping an open mind, a nose to the grindstone, and an ability to handle
whatever twists life hands me.

LONG LIVE IRELAND!!

Gary McGuigan
Gary's Bio