Johnny Tinker grew up on Tinkerbell Farms in Homer, the oldest of 16 children, who helped manage 80 to 100 cows along with goats and horses. "If you would have asked me in my younger life if I could ever see all this for myself, I would have said 'I'm going to be a farm boy for the rest of my life," he said.
Now at age 44, a father of four, and an 8-year Veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Tinker is rewriting his story. Earlier this semester, he was inducted into Onondaga Community College's chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) International Honor Society. By May 2026, he will have his first college degree. And one day, he will be standing in a classroom full of seventh and 8th graders teaching history.
Tinker graduated from Homer High School in 2000. He was an outstanding wrestler who planned to continue his career at Syracuse University until they dropped their program. With his college scholarship opportunity gone, he joined the Marines instead.
Over the years, he tried college a couple of times, but life got in the way. "Going through the hardships of life early, having kids early, going through divorce, military service, just being able to come back out on top - I'm glad I'm still pushing forward. Once his four children were grown, he decided it was time to focus on himself, and enrolled at OCC in the fall of 2024.
The transition was smoother than he expected, thanks in large part to Steve White in OCC's Office of Veterans and Military Services. "Steve is phenomenal. He got me in here the Friday before school started for my first semester. He had me enrolled and helped with all of the paperwork that needed to come through," Tinker said. The faculty has been equally supportive. "I've truly enjoyed my time here. The professors have been outstanding."
Tinker is majoring in Humanities and Social Sciences with plans to become a middle school social studies teacher. "I love history. I like to review facts, and knowledge is power," he explained. When people hear he wants to work with seventh and eighth graders, they think he's crazy. But Tinker remembers what a difficult time that age was for him. "I want to be that pillar that kids have," he said. After OCC, he plans to transfer to Le Moyne College and eventually earn a doctorate in History and Education.
His induction into PTK still surprises him. "To me, that was huge! I was a rambunctious boy. If it didn't deal with sports, I really didn't have an interest in it. Me turning around, taking Honors Classes, then getting into PTK, it just blows my mind that I did that." For the farm boy who became a Marine, becoming a teacher isn't just a career change—it's proof that it's never too late to become the person you want to be.
