College interuppted

The sudden closing of Dowling College earlier this week came as a shock to local students, who are now scrambling to find new place to complete their educations, although new negotiations to keep the school open were ongoing as of Friday afternoon.

Ryan Gibbons, Jimmy Ragland and Matt Simone, all 2015 graduates of Seaford High School, just completed their freshman year at Dowling and played together on the lacrosse team. “There was always speculation about it; we were never too worried,” Gibbons said of the school closing, noting that he and his teammates heard that the college would likely be bought or merge with another school.

“We knew there were financial troubles going into it,” added Ragland, “but we never thought it would close.”

The three said they really enjoyed their year at Dowling’s Brookhaven campus, where they dormed. They liked the small class sizes and helpful professors. Gibbons and Simone are studying business management, and Ragland is majoring in economics and finance.

After an 11-4 season and a loss in the first round of the conference tournament, the three were looking forward to eclipse that success and advance further into the playoffs. “We would have been really good if we played next year,” Simone said, citing a strong group of freshman players.

They are hoping to continue playing together for the next three years, and are collectively looking at Farmingdale State College and Wingate University, where their former coach just accepted a new job. They also are exploring colleges on their own, knowing that staying together isn’t a certainty, given the limited time frame they have to find new schools.

Dominic Danetti, of Wantagh, was getting ready for his senior year at Dowling, where he was studying criminology and playing for the baseball team. He said he enjoyed his three years there, and it will be hard to go somewhere else for just one more year. “I loved it,” he said. “It was a good place.”

Danetti said that he had always heard rumors about the school’s financial troubles, but didn’t think it would close, at least not during his time there. “I have to start calling coaches again,” he said, as he looks for a new school with both his major and an opening on the baseball team. “I haven’t done this since high school.”

The 2013 MacArthur High School graduate and pitcher said he had grown really close with his fellow teammates at Dowling, saying they became like brothers, and he really loved the coaches that he played for. They taught him not only how to be a better baseball player, but how to be a better person.

The Golden Lions made it to the NCAA East Regional tournament this year and Danetti said he was hoping to have one more shot at winning a title with Dowling.

He is hoping to have a new college selected by the end of the month. “This is very stressful,” he said, “not something I was expecting to do at all.”

Gibbons, Ragland and Simone are also hoping to find a new school within the coming weeks, and said that finding the right fit is important. They went together to Dowling on May 31, the day the closing was announced, to meet with their coach and get their transcripts.

Because all three had scholarships at Dowling, cost is also going to be a factor for them as they move forward. They also don’t want to go to another struggling college, and have to go through this ordeal again. “Where we go next,” Gibbons said, “we want to stay there for the next three years.”

The three plan to keep in touch with the friends they made during their first year, and they wish success to their now former teammates, who they were expecting to see again in a few months. “We wanted to enjoy our summer and go back in the fall,” Simone said. “Now it’s like 12th grade all over again.”