The Current - Dave Burnett Graduation

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

Dave Burnett started his degree in 1976. Now 49 years later, he is graduating. He talks to Matt about that moment crossing the stage nearly half a century in the making. The 68-year-old just completed his agriculture degree — and reflects on the long road to graduation — a story of addiction, recovery, and achieving long-held dreams.

Ten years ago, I asked my partner Kelsey if she would marry me. I did that, despite the fact that every living member of my family who had ever been married had also gotten divorced. Forever is a Long Time is a five-part series in which I talk to those relatives about why they got divorced and why they got married. You can listen to it now on CBC's Personally. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is the current podcast. Forty-nine years later, we are thrilled to invite our most recent graduate in the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with his new degree, Dave Burnett.

Yes, you heard that right. Dave Burnett started his degree 49 years ago at the University of Guelph in Ontario. Last week, he finally walked across the stage and accepted his Bachelor of Science degree. Dave started his agricultural program back in 1976, but life, as you know, doesn't always go as planned. Dave Burnett joins us now. Dave, good morning. Good morning, sir, and thank you for inviting me on. Congratulations.

You're welcome. What was it like hearing your name called on that stage? Well, I wasn't expecting when they called my name to stop the program and give me a standing ovation. It was sort of a guess at that point that the whole thing started to dawn on me. It's been such a long journey that, you know, I never really thought about the ending. And it wasn't until sometime in May that I checked my grades and realized that I was done. So, yeah, it's still catching up with me a little bit.

I can hear, yeah, it's right in your voice. Take me back just briefly to 1976. You started your degree at the University of Guelph. What were you studying? Agriculture at that point. The challenge in 76, it was the 1970s, and I didn't want to be in university. That decision was sort of made by people around me, by my high school teachers due to my grades,

extremely high grades. But at the end of the day, my high school teachers due to my grades, extremely high grades. But at the end of the day, I just didn't want to be there. So you dropped out. I dropped out after about not quite a year. What happened after you dropped out? Because that's a huge part of this story. It's not as though you dropped out and then simply picked that back up, that life, as we said,

unfolded in that time. Yes. Well, at the beginning of a journey, I was at the beginning of a journey, I call it the rabbit hole of addiction over the next 20 years, a series of jobs. Yeah, life, some of it's kind of fuzzy today, but 20 years later, a family friend showed up one day and I didn't know what day of the week it was, really didn't sort of care. And the next thing I knew after his visit is they're talking me into rehab. And that was the beginning of the actual what I'm going to call the journey forward. And you've been sober, you've been sober since then., what I'm gonna call the journey forward. And you've been sober since then?

Yes, I'm sober 31 years now. Congratulations. Thank you. As you go through that, you decide at some point in time, you know what, maybe I should pick up that education piece. Tell me about that, because you had a conversation in some ways with the school about picking up where you left off, right?

Yes. Initially, when I, you know, 31 years ago, I was essentially a high school dropout. I was unemployable. All of the usual stuff we affiliate with addiction. And there were things in life that I wanted to do that were going to require me to have a degree, goals and plans,

and so it was basically starting from scratch building. The university welcomed me back. I hadn't burned my bridges there. I burned a lot of bridges in life, but I hadn't burned that particular bridge. So I went back. I hadn't burned that particular bridge. So I went back. It was the next 30, 25 years were a struggle

between the practical basis of life and paying tuition. Because in that, you know, to today, what I paid for tuition for a whole term is what it cost me today for a single course. Yeah, things have really gone up and so it was all going forward. It was a long journey because it required balancing day to day, you know, you've got a choice between student loans and a full-time paycheck. And some years was an easy choice. What was it like, you said that you have blue jeans that are older than some of the people

that you were with in class. What was it like at 68, you're 68 now, what is it like going back into the classroom with people who are that much younger than you? It was absolutely wonderful. A couple things I'm aware of today, the Blue Jeans comment. I had walked into a biochemistry lecture that year.

The university thought they would do me a favor. I had taken in 76 a chemistry course. So I came back at Christmas sat down and what would have been like the second course of the series. And I'm looking around and you know, I realized that's when I realized that I was a lot older than everybody else. And they're all writing away because they had taken the previous course, September to December. I'm being dropped into the middle of nowhere. I remember thinking that it was almost six weeks into the term before I realized the

professor wasn't speaking in Latin, understanding the terms and terminologies. Friends and mentors told me that I would struggle with some of the pure science courses going back like that, but they said, when you get into your fourth year, you'll shine. Uh, life experience will start to pay off. And that's exactly what happened. Your professor said that your, these are the professor's words, your passion and drive were

inspiring. Okay. What does it mean to hear that? Um, I really wasn't expecting his comments. Um, he, he was the one that supervised my research course, which was the final one that I took. And, um, yeah, I, that, that just blew me away issue because he had, had been critical. I realized today in a helpful way on my research project and we took it apart about three times and there were some nights that I didn't exactly call him an ace person. Um, you know, God, I got to do this again.

Um, but in the, in the end, yeah, it all paid off and a lot of the. Sort of circumstance, both the professor's comments, like I've since, um, convocation got emails from five different professors. Uh, very positive, very encouraging. I've got a couple of them asking me now to consider graduate school. The jury's still out on that. My wife is saying, don't you dare. And my baby sister is goading me on.

So I don't know what lies ahead. And my baby sister is goading me on. Uh, so I, I don't know, I don't know what lies ahead. I'm going to let you go, but I just, this is really emotional for you. And I just wonder what does this mean to you? The you've done this and, and, and you're here at this, at that finish line. What does that mean to you? Well, I had a, all the way through recovery, I've had a mentor and when I told him that I was going back to school,

he said, think what it'll do for your self-confidence. And... Good. You know, I guess I realized when I look back that I earned that degree. I have every right to be there. One of the things in recovery is that you don't think you're worthy. And no. Yeah. And, yeah, it is still emotional. You're worthy and then some.

I mean, you really, you managed this and you've earned it over time and it's a remarkable story and you're going to be a point of inspiration for a lot of other people as well, Dave. Yeah, well, I had a cousin, I heard from one of my relatives the other day and he's in his fifties. He never finished at McGill. And my answer to him is, it's never too late. We should remember that, all of us. Um, congratulations, Dave. It's a real pleasure to talk to you.

Yes. And somebody said something the other day about going back to school and further. I said, it's more fun than Sudoku. I think maybe there would be people who would wonder about that, but we'll take your word for it. Dave, congratulations again. It's really good to talk to you.

Thank you for the coverage. I didn't expect any of that. It's an amazing story. Well done. Thank you. Dave Burnett now holds a bachelor of Science degree from the University of Guelph 49 years after he enrolled in that program. This has been The Current Podcast.

You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30am at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca slash the current or on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.