Never Too Late: A Graduate’s Three-Decade Journey Back to the Classroom

For Michael “Mike” Peskin, the road to graduation has never been a straight line. It has been a 37-year journey that included professional wrestling, personal setbacks and a refusal to tap out, even when life pulled him miles away from the classroom.

Mike first arrived at Florida Atlantic University in 1988 as a transfer student balancing books by day and body slams by night. He was wrestling professionally for Dusty Rhodes’ Florida Championship Wrestling, traveling across the state and throughout the Bahamas five to six nights a week. The pay was good, the local fame exhilarating — a combination that made it difficult to prioritize academics. By 1990, Mike became academically ineligible to return, and soon after he moved back to Connecticut to continue wrestling full time.

Later that year, everything changed. A motorcycle accident abruptly ended the career he had spent years building. Mike tried returning to school in Connecticut, but life soon pulled him back to Florida in 1992, where he entered the automotive industry as a salesperson. He excelled quickly, rising into management roles and building new momentum in a completely different field.

What came next would define the next stage of his professional life: a successful career with JM Family Enterprises. It was through JM Family that Mike later learned about the NextGRAD program and JM’s partnership with FAU, a benefit that would ultimately reconnect him to his original academic aspirations.

In 2021, after three decades away from the classroom and previous re-enrollment challenges, Mike was encouraged by a coworker to try again. This time, through NextGRAD, he earned reinstatement for spring 2022 under strict academic conditions. The challenge was formidable, but he welcomed it.

While traveling an average of 170 nights a year for JM Family, Mike structured his days around coursework, carving out nonnegotiable study time from hotel rooms across the country. With discipline, focus and the unwavering support of his wife, he moved off academic probation and excelled. By the start of his final semester, he had successfully completed 21 courses with a 3.81 GPA.

As Mike celebrates earning his Bachelor of Business Administration, he is already looking ahead and preparing for the next opportunity. He has been accepted into FAU’s online MBA program and will begin graduate studies in January. Mike’s motivation remains crystal clear: finish what he started and stay “green and growing.” 

Mike Peskin’s journey, from wrestling rings, cross-country travel and corporate boardrooms to academic setbacks and hard-won comebacks, shows that persistence is timeless. His story reinforces Florida Atlantic’s purpose: opening doors for every student willing to do the work, no matter how long the road back may be.

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