Every Friday during the fall semester, our "Start Here, Anytime" series will spotlight an adult learner who chose to come to Onondaga Community College to pursue new opportunities, new goals, and a new chapter in life. Today, meet Chuck Money.
At 71, Chuck Money is a college student again. But this time, he’s not studying physics or electronics or the latest technology. Instead, he's learning how to communicate with his hands. Money is an American Sign Language (ASL) major at Onondaga Community College, where he is also working toward a Direct Service Professional certificate. His goal is simple: to be of service to the deaf community. “I enjoy ASL,” he said. “I can hold my own.” He's done more than hold his own in his coursework, earning membership in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.
Money has been interested in American Sign Language for decades. While working for a small manufacturing firm in McGraw, he became friends with a deaf man he mentored. The two have remained friends for 30 years. “I never got really good with the signing back then. Because of that friendship, I’ve always been interested in ASL.”
Now he is getting the chance to do something about it. Every Friday, Money attends Deaf Coffee, a gathering in Onondaga County where 10 to 20 members of the deaf community come together. For Money, it has become another opportunity to practice what he is learning at OCC, and to build connections within the community he hopes to serve.
His path to OCC is as interesting as the destination. A Syracuse native who grew up on the city’s South Side, Money attended St. Anthony’s of Padua at the corner of Colvin and Midler from kindergarten through 12th grade. Of the 36 students in his graduating class, 12 had been together for all 13 years.
After high school, Money attended a two-year school, majoring in photographic technology with a minor in electronic technology. In 1975, at age 20, he joined the U.S. Navy. “I was a sailor without a sea.” The Cold War was raging, and the Navy had a high demand for electronics technicians. Money entered the service as a Tradevman, or Training Deviceman, working on training devices while receiving extensive schooling in electronics.
After four years, he left the Navy and began a career that would take him through a series of increasingly sophisticated technology jobs. He worked as a Department of Defense contractor with General Electric and Grumman Technical Services, developing his skills as an electronics technician.
In his early 30s, he decided to return to college, this time at SUNY Cortland, where he earned a degree in physics. His career continued to evolve. He worked at TRW in Auburn, where he helped manufacture remote keyless entry systems for automobiles. Later, at Handheld Products - a spinoff of Welch Allyn - he helped create the fourth generation of handheld computers known as a DIAD, a device used by United Parcel Service drivers.
He eventually went to work for Marquardt Switches in Cazenovia. When the company decided to move its manufacturing operations out of the country, Money found himself at another crossroads. “The timing coincided with me turning 70,” he said. “My last day there was in August 2025, and I went from there to OCC.”
This time, though, he wasn’t looking for another career in electronics. He was looking for a way to put something he had cared about for years into practice. “I wanted to be of service to the deaf community."
At OCC, Money has found another community in the Office of Veterans and Military Services. “It’s the place where I feel like I fit in.” It is also the place where he has a particularly strong connection with Steve White, Assistant Director of Veterans Affairs. “Steve has assisted me tremendously. He’s more like a mentor than anything else.” Money said White is someone he can talk to about anything. “He’s a great listener, has a ton of life experience, and we relate to each other as peers, although I call him ‘Boss.’”
More than five decades after graduating from high school, Money is once again a college student. And while the technology he once worked with has changed dramatically, his motivation has become remarkably simple. “I want to be of service to the deaf community."
