The Conversation: Laid Off But Marching On

Oct. 5, 2010— -- It's become cliche that when some men have a middle-age crisis, they join a band. Rarely is it a marching band.

Meet 48-year-old Floridian Don Cupo, who is by far the oldest member of the University of Central Florida's Marching Knights.

When Cupo lost his job as a financial analyst during the economic downturn, he decided to go back to school, but he wanted to do more than just take night classes.

At orientation, Cupo said, "I was there with the parents and the children, and they thought I had a child with me. So the student reps would go, 'Oh, where's your child?' I said, 'No, I'm the student.'"

An aspiring composer with some music experience, Cupo saw the band table and was intrigued.

"I said, 'So, do you take old people?' And the one girl said, 'Yeah, we do!'" Cupo recalled.

Since he played the flute when he was a child, he signed on to play the piccolo for the Marching Knights. Cupo's marching colleagues are in most cases less than half his age, but he says all the work is worth it.

"It's a constant struggle to keep up, but it's keeping my brain sharp, because it's never letting me stop," Cupo said. "I needed to latch onto something that made me happy."

Cupo spoke with ABC's Linsey Davis in today's Conversation. We hope you'll watch for more.

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