Former Navy explosives expert comes to Yale

One mass e-mail story that often circulates on college campuses describes the student who was allegedly accepted to New York University (NYU) after writing a fictitious essay that was so clever that the admissions staff chose to take him anyway. He described having climbed Mt. Everest, performed open-heart surgery, competed in marathons, and numerous other feats that few humans ever accomplish—yet he had never been to college. When Robert McGinnis, ES '01, applied to Yale, his application must have been similarly dazzling; in his case, however, everything that he wrote was true.

COURTESY ROB MCGINNIS Before coming to Yale, Rob McGinnis, ES '01, spent his time participating in Explosive Ordinance Disposal and protecting the president.

Matriculating at Yale at age 28, McGinnis' road to college was anything but standard. He explained, "I didn't get to go to college right out of high school, because in my family, the children have to put themselves through school." Setting out at 18, McGinnis first managed a Bo Jangles chicken and biscuits restaurant. Soon, however, he found the hours long and the pay insufficient. Following in the steps of five generations of his family, he decided to join the Navy with the GI Bill in mind.

He spent the next six years in the Navy. McGinnis enlisted in bomb squad special operations and became involved in Explosive Ordinance Disposal. "It was kind of like being a Navy SEAL, except it was a different job and we weren't as famous as they were," he said. His experiences with the Navy took him to various corners of the globe and on numerous missions. During the Persian Gulf War, he removed traps from foxholes and cleared land mines, eventually earning medals for his bravery. He also spent some time in Hawaii, where he trained dolphins and studied their sonar capabilities. While the Navy did have effective deep-water sonar technology in shallow water, the dolphins were far more efficient. McGinnis worked to discover how the animals' talents could be harnessed by the Navy. His other Navy experiences included small boat operations, parachuting out of planes, and rappelling out of helicopters. "Being in the Navy is like being in suspended time," McGinnis explained. "You grow up in an artificial environment. It's hard to say who I would be if I had not been in the Navy."

While in the Navy, Mc-Ginnis put his bomb disposal skills to work for the Secret Service under President George Bush, DC '48, and Bill Clinton, LAW '73. "I was one of those guys with the earphone and a walkie-talkie," he said. His duty was to survey an area the president would visit for bombs. Clinton was particularly fond of going to Hollywood, giving McGinnis the opportunity to search the belongings of numerous celebrities, including Barbra Streisand and Kenny G. "Kenny G made a saxaphone joke, but mostly they just said `thanks'," McGinnis remarked. He currently is still involved with civilian bomb disposal.

By the time McGinnis decided to enter college, he had also added to his resumé jobs as a pizza chef, bouncer, bartender, and emergency medical technician. Prior to his arrival in New Haven, he attended Cabrillo Community College in Santa Cruz, Calif. Although he entertained the pre-med track and a philosophy major, it was in theater that he found his passion. He became involved in local theater, performing in works such as The Count of Monte Cristo.

After three years in Santa Cruz, McGinnis transfered to Yale. Originally planning on going into acting, he was so taken by Deborah Margolin's playwriting course that he decided to pursue that aspect of theater. He explained, "Now one of my favorite things is to sit in Rudy's, have a beer, and write." He plans to attend graduate school in playwriting and lists NYU and Yale as his top choices, although he first plans to take a year off, maybe to "sit and read by a fireplace in a cabin in Oregon." Another option is to continue work on an invention that involves seawater desalination.

Currently 30 years old, McGinnis finds that the age difference with his classmates has not prevented him from enjoying the Yale experience. He currently resides on Old Campus with seven juniors, whom he regards as "the greatest guys." He said, "I absolutely love living with them and don't find the age difference a problem at all." He does find comfort in the fact that "usually at least the instructors in my classes are older than me, although that doesn't always happen." While conscious of the age disparity, a great sense of personal accomplishment underlies his years at Yale. "No one in my family had gone somewhere like Yale, and my dad was the first person even to go to college, so this was a huge victory for me," he said.

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