High school dropouts becoming Southeast graduates

Jon Thrower always marched to the beat of a different drummer. The 29-year-old high school dropout who played drums in punk rock bands and used to sport a mohawk will graduate from Southeast Missouri State University on Saturday with an English degree and plans to attend graduate school.

His wife, Megan, 27, who also dropped out of high school, will graduate too, with honors and with a bachelor's degree in graphic design.

"We get to sit together at graduation," a smiling Jon said as he and Megan sat on the couch in their downtown Cape Girardeau apartment recounting their journeys from rebellious teenagers to studious college students.

Jon and Megan dated each other as students at Central High School in Cape Girardeau.

He was 17 when he quit school in 1991. He moved to Oakland, Calif., and played in various punk bands.

Megan was a junior in high school when she dropped out in March 1993.

"I wasn't finding what I was looking for," Megan said. "I was 16 and moved out of my parents' house."

'I was just hanging out'

Shortly after dropping out, both Jon and Megan passed the test for their general education development degrees, equivalent to a high school diploma.

She worked as a waitress at local restaurants and partied with friends, with little direction in her life. "I was just hanging out," said Megan, who also has worked in an insurance office and a dental office.

Jon returned to Cape Girardeau and enrolled at Southeast in the fall of 1995. Initially, he still played drums in a punk rock band.

So when he enrolled in a creative writing class, "he came in and he had a mohawk," said Dr. Susan Swartwout, associate professor of English and director of the Southeast Missouri State University Press. "It was very brightly colored. It had a reddish tint."

She assumed he was in a band and also "thought he probably would be a good writer."

Jon, she said, sat in the front row. "He would speak out in class," Swartwout said. But she added that he wasn't obnoxious, only eager to learn.

Encouraged by Jon, Megan enrolled in classes at Southeast in 1998. She was 21 and ready to hit the books.

"I had an epiphany," she said. "I loved school."

Megan said she and Jon have been "hard-core" students for the past five years while continuing to hold down jobs. Megan has worked on campus at the textbook services office for four years. Jon works for an auto supply company, helping to create catalogs that advertise the merchandise.

The Throwers say their experiences outside the classroom have made them appreciate the value of an education even more.

Tough to study

The couple, who married on Dec. 29, 2000, say it's tough to study at times in their apartment at 116 Themis St. because the place is a popular pit stop for friends who have been out drinking at downtown bars.

Swartwout said the Throwers are fun to be around. "They are unassuming and just friendly. They have this kind of charisma. People are just drawn to them," she said.

Jon has edited the university's Journey magazine of creative writing for the past two years. And while he no longer plays the drums, he couldn't resist pounding out a beat on metal chairs and standing partially in the Kala M. Stroup Fountain in front of Kent Library at the school's annual "Wordsfair" celebration as he read one of his poems.

Megan, who paints, has done graphic design work on computer including covers for Journey and Big Muddy, a university periodical that publishes stories, poems and essays related to the Mississippi River Valley.

Swartwout said her graphic design work was "amazing."

But Megan says she prefers painting on canvas. "I really like working with my hands," she said.

Moving to Scott City

After graduation, the Throwers plan to move to an upstairs apartment above friend Paul Schock's new arts center in a former furniture building in Scott City. They plan to help out with the Schock Community Arts Center and perhaps teach some community enrichment classes.

"We are just going to dive into what we want to do," Megan said.

Jon is planning to continue his education at Southeast as a graduate student in English.

He says he might wind up being a college professor.

"I would like to teach," Jon said, "but I don't plan to ever set foot in a high school again."

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123