UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Twenty-two years after dropping out of high school, Thomas O’Malley said he knew it was time for a change.
After years as a store manager, O’Malley explained, his life took a turn during an unexpected conversation at work with another manager, who had spent decades disliking his role and now was nearing retirement.
"I realized 'that’s me' if I don’t act immediately," O'Malley said. That same day, he called off work for the first time in years. From his car, he opened his work laptop, connected to Wi-Fi, and in one sitting completed his GED diploma, wrote three admission essays and applied to Penn State. At the age of 39 he enrolled at Penn State World Campus, which offered the flexibility he was seeking.
Sixty-three credits into his educational journey, the first-generation student now is carrying a 3.9 grade-point average while pursuing dual bachelor’s degrees in labor and human resources and organizational leadership through the School of Labor and Employment Relations in the College of the Liberal Arts.
Asked how he balances work, school and his 15-year marriage, O’Malley replied, “Never waste a minute. Ever.”
“Fear is my motivator. Not money, not accolades, just fear of doing something I don’t want to do and being someone I don’t want to be,” he said. “I am not just the first in my family to attend college; I am proof that it is never too late to start, and that the pursuit of education can transform not only a life, but a legacy, where anything is possible.”
O’Malley said his road to the college classroom was bumpy but paved with perseverance.
“I grew up in a challenging household, moving between my mom, grandparents, aunts and eventually my dad, across Florida and Georgia,” he said. “By the time I was 15, I returned to Pennsylvania with my mom, but the instability had already taken its toll. At 18, I was a high school dropout, struggling with addiction.”
Despite his addiction, O’Malley said, he was instilled with a solid work ethic and spent the last two decades climbing the retail management ladder.
At 30, he finally got sober, he said, and at 35, he became his store’s manager.
He oversaw 130 employees and millions in annual sales. But, he said, for him the demanding 60- to 70-hour workweeks, constant phone calls and mind-numbing repetitiveness eventually began to take a toll. So he took a step back to focus on his education.
“I started looking for jobs and realized quickly that I’m either gonna lose $50,000 a year or wear a different name tag somewhere else,” he said. “I knew right there that I had to swing big.”
He said this realization was reinforced later that day during his conversation with the produce manager, who shared with O’Malley he had hated his job for 25 years but stayed for the high wage and three weeks of vacation. The conversation cemented O’Malley’s decision, putting in motion the steps that led to his World Campus enrollment.
O’Malley admitted the start of his Penn State journey left him “scared as hell” because he was still carrying the weight of being a dropout. Because of this fear, he began with just 6 credits. But once he comfortably settled in, he progressively began adding more to his schedule.
“Last semester I took 22 credits and six of them were 400-level classes,” he said.
His motivation and persistence are paying off: Just recently, O’Malley was accepted into graduate school for labor and human resource management at Penn State World Campus, received a scholarship and got a call back from pet-supplies company Chewy for a human resources position — the first response he’d received after years of job applications.
O’Malley said his academic focus stems from 23 years of experience on both sides of the employee-employer relationship.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad employers out there. A lot of crappy bosses,” he said, recalling being screamed at by a store manager when he was just 18 years old. “I always said I wanted to be different. I wanted to talk to people differently.”
Those experiences have shaped O’Malley’s leadership philosophies. He said he firmly believes that most people want to do well at work but may not know how, and that it’s leadership’s responsibility to connect with each person individually.
“If you get someone to want to do something, they’re gonna get more results than if you force them to do something,” he said.
O’Malley said his ultimate goal isn’t about titles or salary, but to improve employee leadership relationships at the organizational level by drawing on his experience in entry-level, assistant management and store manager roles.
“I want to make an employee-leader relationship more fluent and give better organizational efficiency and longevity,” he said. “I just want to make a difference. I want to feel like I’m contributing to my family, to society and to human beings. It’s just about having purpose.”
For other adult learners or first-generation students considering returning to school, O’Malley’s advice is straightforward: “If you want it, and you want it bad enough, you can do it. You just gotta put in the effort and have motivation.
“Being first‑gen is not just about being the first in my family to attend college — it's about rewriting the story of what's possible,” he said. “My scars are part of my strength. The instability of my childhood taught me resilience. Addiction taught me humility and the value of discipline. Sobriety taught me clarity. And Penn State has given me the chance to turn all of that into a foundation for leadership and service.”