At Rowan’s ‘Last Lecture,’ a first

In a single, spirited hour, Constantine Alexakos gave his last lecture…and his first.

The director of Rowan’s Office of Student Activities—known University-wide as Cos—didn’t squander the opportunity.

“When was the last time you did something for the first time?” Alexakos said as he took the stage to deliver the University’s “Last Lecture” on Dec. 1.

A tradition at many universities, the “Last Lecture” is the talk a member of the University community would give as if it was his/her final opportunity to speak to the entire campus. Traditionally, the “Last Lecture” provides life lessons not typically taught in the classroom.

Rowan’s “Last Lecture” is presented annually by Student University Programmers and has in recent years included professors in communication, history and business.

This year, Alexakos was the first non-professor voted by the student body to deliver the “Last Lecture”—a huge honor for a professional staff member.

Before a packed audience of students, alumni, colleagues and family members and friends keenly aware of his professional successes, Alexakos spoke of the challenges that led him to build a successful career at Rowan.

Those challenges, he said, included struggling with confidence and self-esteem issues as a teen, flunking out of junior college, working grueling hours as an apprentice to a master chef, and lacking direction and focus in his early 20s.

The challenges we face, Alexakos told his audience, aren’t obstacles. Rather, he said, they’re the path.

Every position is important

He learned that while working as an apprentice for Master Chef Gerhard Wolfgang Brill in Alabama—a gig he landed after dropping out of Pensacola Junior College.

For six months straight, day after day, he scraped the remnants of food--blackened redfish, bread pudding soufflé and tournedos Rossini with foie gras--from dinner plates in Brill’s restaurant.

“Six months in, I still hadn’t touched food yet,” he said. “I worked every Friday and Saturday, every holiday. Every time somebody was celebrating something, I was working, scraping food off dishes.

“At the time, I didn’t think I was getting an education. But I look back now and I realize the chef taught me that every position is important.”

Write down your goals

At age 20, Alexakos was working night and day as the manager of his family’s restaurant in Florida.

“It was the most depressed I had ever been in my life. I remember feeling lost,” he recalled.

“My mom said, ‘Write down your goals, honey.’ The moment I started writing, it was like magic was coming out of my pen.”

Suddenly, in that simple act of putting his hopes and dreams on paper, Alexakos saw promise for his future. His first goal was getting in shape. Maintaining a healthy weight had always been a struggle for him, he said.

“I started running. I remember the feeling of my skin itching from the inside out. It was my blood pumping.

“That summer, I ran 10 miles every other day. I was climbing trees and jumping fences at 20 years old just because I had never done that before,” said Alexakos, today an avid golfer and racquetball player who has since completed six marathons.

Find mentors

His confidence building, he enrolled back at Pensacola Junior College—“I had to take remedial classes at first,” he admitted. There, he found focus…and a caring mentor. At a student activities information table, he met Mary Esslinger, then the college’s student activities coordinator.

Esslinger made time for him. And that, he said, made all the difference. She pushed Alexakos to get involved and to seek leadership opportunities in student activities at the school.

“I can tell you right now: Meeting Mary Esslinger is the reason I’m in student activities today,” said Alexakos, adding that Esslinger encouraged him to get out of his comfort zone, something he carries on today with the scores of Rowan students he mentors.

Alexakos moved on to the University of West Florida (UWF). There, he organized a distance training club, portrayed Argie the Argonaut, the school mascot, and earned his bachelor’s degree in spots and recreation management.

Like many Rowan students, Alexakos was the first in his family to graduate from college. The former dropout set his sights on graduate school.

Alexakos was poised to accept a coveted graduate assistantship at Ball State University, a job that included helping with game day management of the school’s Division 1 football program. He heard about an open position at Rowan and was uninterested in coming to New Jersey…until he interviewed with Associate Vice President for Campus Recreation and Student Center Tina Pinocci, another one of his professional mentors.

“Until I went on my Rowan interview, I thought I already had what I was looking for at Ball State,” said Alexakos, who holds a master’s degree in student personnel services from Rowan. “But I realized it wasn’t a house I was looking for. It was a home.

“In my interview, we laughed. We cried. We told stories. I knew the people here would shape me. And I needed to go 18 hours away from home. I needed that for myself.”

Pinocci, Alexakos said, demonstrated to him what it means to truly serve students, something he takes pride in in his work. Since joining the University in 2005, he has built the Office of Student Activities, founded the successful Rowan After Hours program, and helped dozens of students find their career paths.

He urged his audience to cultivate relationships with mentors and friends and, most importantly, to treasure loved ones.

In his talk, he paid tribute to his parents, step-parents, brother, sister-in-law and niece and nephew. His mother, he said, is an extraordinary teacher, someone who always stands by her principles and beliefs—and always makes sure no one goes hungry.

“My mom,” he said simply, “has taught me a lot in life.”

Banner year

The Last Lecture capped off what has been a banner year for Alexakos.

He earned a promotion, officiated at the marriage of Rowan alumni Lauren and Charles Kuski, traveled to Ireland to visit alumnus Adam Chazen, one of his first students and the winner of multiple Emmy Awards for his work on "Game of Thrones,” bought his first house, and co-chaired the biggest, most well-attended Homecoming celebration in University history.

He admitted that he wavered a bit when the Kuskis, both of whom worked in Student Activities, asked him to lead their ceremony.

“I was nervous about messing up,” he said. “But I realized it was their special day. It wasn’t about me. It was about them. So of course I said yes.”

Set sail

Quoting William G.T. Shedd, Alexakos shared one final thought with his audience:

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are built for.”

“Early on in my life, I was staying in my harbor. Every time I think about not doing something, I think about that quotation,” he said.

His audience gave him a standing ovation.

About the ‘Last Lecture’

The “Last Lecture” was made famous by Randy Pausch, the late Carnegie Mellon University professor who actually delivered his last lecture in 2007 while he was dying of pancreatic cancer.

The lecture became an internet sensation and led to a New York Times best-selling book.