Living the dream
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 19, 2018 5:50 AM
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Bill Reboli opens up with a joke during a Multi-Cultural Club meeting at Wayne Community College Thursday.
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Professor and adviser for the Multi-Cultural Club Bill Reboli helps the club with the planning of an upcoming event Thursday during a meeting at Wayne Community College.
Bill Reboli's "dream job" of being a psychology instructor at Wayne Community College was more than 25 years in the making -- starting when he became a student there.
It happened when he met the late Ed Hogan, then a psychology instructor at the college.
"It changed my life, right away pretty much," Reboli said. "One of the first things he told me was that he had just gotten his Ph.D., at 49.
"I was a non-traditional student, at 27. I thought, if he can do it at that age, I can, too."
Hogan was his teacher, his adviser and ultimately, his friend.
"He encouraged me every step of the way," Reboli said. "I did tell him I was going to have his job. I was going to teach psychology.
"I changed my major six times. I don't know how many classes I took, just trying to find exactly where I wanted to go. I wanted to find the population I wanted to work with."
That tenacity had also surfaced as a teenager, looking for a part-time job, and even in his choice of a life mate.
While a student at Eastern Wayne High School, the former "Air Force brat" whose father retired here in 1974, recalled heading out to Southern Wholesale to apply for a job "cropping 'baccer" (tobacco).
"All the kids at school worked there on Saturday," he said. "I went at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. They had hired enough. But I persisted and was told to come back the next Saturday at 7 a.m. in case anyone had left.
"I went 10 weeks in a row, every Saturday morning at 7 a.m."
Persistence paid off and he wound up working there throughout the summer and beyond.
"I'm kind of tenacious in that way," he said with a laugh. "When I want something I go for it."
After graduating from high school in 1979, he went to college at Wingate to pursue music but dropped out after a semester to play guitar. He has played in several bands, mostly Top 40 rock, won a Battle of the Bands contest, written songs and even recorded a CD back in the '80s.
Another thing that brought him back to Wayne County was a girl he had met after high school.
"There's always a girl," he said, smiling. "I knew it was love at first sight when I saw her and I knew I was going to marry her one day."
The couple has now been married for 36 years and have a daughter, Ashley, an accountant living in Goldsboro.
His own career has been varied. After he wound up attending and graduating from WCC, he continued his education, which includes a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's in marriage and family therapy. He is currently a doctoral student studying social psychology and human motivation.
He has spent more than 20 years honing his skills in family therapy, with stints as an administration and therapist in a group home, and is the author of a book, "Faith in Our Families: A Nostalgic Look at Contemporary Families," available on Amazon.
But back to his dream to work at WCC.
"I decided that whatever road I was going to take, I would help those less fortunate and those most vulnerable in society," he said.
He actually had a job at the University of Mount Olive, teaching sociology and psychology, which he has now had for 20 years. That did not distract him from the desire to pursue the role at WCC.
"In the interim, I have applied out here at Wayne probably 10 times," he said. "I was fighting for a job out here.
"A friend said there was a psychology position open. I immediately put my resume and application in, for the 10th time, and I got a call for the interview."
Reboli came to that interview with two overriding themes in mind -- student retention and "This is where I belong," he said.
"And I convinced all of them that this was where I needed to be. I was convinced I was the person. I was sitting in that chair right there," he said, pointing to where he sat in the conference room.
"I laid my body and soul on that table. I had a really good job, that I really enjoyed and was very (satisfied at UMO)," he said. "But part of it was my admiration for Dr. Hogan.
"I think it was just one thing he always said -- you have to do something that makes you smile, that you want to go to every day, and that appealed to me. Some people just live in misery and drama but I honestly believe you create your own reality. You create what you want."
When asked if the job had lived up to his expectations, Reboli's response was immediate -- "It's been more," he said.
It's about the people, he said, from the students to the staff and the role to promote growth on the campus.
"Before they assigned me to a committee, I sought them out," he said, becoming chairman of the college's Cultural Diversity/Global Education Task Force and adviser for its Multi-Cultural Club. "Next year I want to introduce my classes, (the college) has approved me for a social psych (class) to understand how psychology exists within society."
Reboli is admittedly very laid-back and low-key, both personally and as a therapist and instructor, who believes in harmony and peace.
But his exuberance is apparent, especially when it comes to the job he fought so long and hard to get.
"This is where I'm going to retire from," he said. "People dread coming to work on Monday -- I'm so excited to go to work. I could feel sick and when I walk in the classroom, it's gone. I could be limping on a sprained ankle and I wouldn't feel it for an hour. It's a medicine.
"I am the happiest I have ever been in life and I am so grateful to those who helped during the distressing times when I doubted my abilities. You must have a direction in order to know where you are going. Setting a goal that was my dream job helped me persevere."