Sep 08, 2008 - 11:04 AM

By Crystal Crimi

DURHAM -- When a beam fell on Terry Rigby’s right foot and crushed his big toe, he had no idea the impact it would have on his hands.

In a split second, his life swiftly switched direction, taking him out of skilled trades and towards post-secondary school. Now, at age 44, he’s in his third year of chemical engineering at Durham College.

“This is never what I would have chosen to do,” Mr. Rigby said, sitting near a coffee shop on campus, wearing a green ‘Durham College Dad’ T-shirt.

Although it’s surprised him how well he’s fit into college, the idea of returning to school filled him with anger and frustration at first. Like the rest of his family, he’s spent his whole life in the skilled trades.

“It was like watching someone die,” said Laurie Moffatt, who was Mr. Rigby’s upgrading teacher at TriArch Educational Services in Cobourg. “Terry identified himself through that work.”

Throughout his life, Mr. Rigby’s had no shortage of work opportunities, from working for family businesses, framing houses, general contracting, and eventually becoming a construction millwright.

“Then in 2003, I had my accident,” Mr. Rigby said.

“It crushed my big toe off and bruised off a lot of other stuff,” Mr. Rigby said, moving his hands almost as often as his lips. “I don’t have accidents, so this is a whole new ball game in life for me.”

The injury occurred during the SARS epidemic and it took 12 hours for his wounds to be attended to. The delay caused rotting and nerve problems.

After numerous proceedings, including temporary positions, seeing doctors and dealing with infections, a functionality doctor said he couldn’t go back to millwrighting and he was chosen as a candidate for labour market re-entry. The news was “mentally paralyzing.”

After interest and school equivalency testing, which revealed he has a reading and comprehension disability, he went to TriArch for upgrading. He tried to be positive, but it was hard.

“Terry was like the worst of all cases,” Ms. Moffatt said. “You would have never thought it could happen.”

He was “a nightmare.” He didn’t want to do homework and, if it was sunny, he wanted to be outside working on a roof or something, she said.

As Ms. Moffatt and Mr. Rigby started to gain each other’s trust and he began to have success, he excelled.

“Most of the people I work with have an extremely high work ethic,” she said, and added they can’t change that in school. “People like Terry have the tendency just like they did at work to achieve.”

In college, he’s now at the top of his class, joined the student ambassadors and has done some tutoring and motivational speaking.

At first, he was filled with self doubt and worry that others would see him as the old guy.

“For the first week I was sitting there going, ‘I can’t do this’,” he said.

But when a fresh-out-of-high-school student offered to help with his computer problems, he knew he was going to be all right.

“From that day forward, I felt OK,” Mr. Rigby said.

Having a friend and someone to help him has been a big thing. He has a good study group and the college staff have helped with his test anxiety and learning disability.

The mature student adds richness to the classroom because of their life experience, said Jeanette Barrett, dean of Durham College’s school of career development and continuing learning.

“They’ve done a lot they just don’t give themselves credit for,” Ms. Barrett said.

They have a proven employment record, bring life experience and flexibility with them, have overcome the challenge of re-training and will be loyal, which makes them attractive to employers, Ms. Moffatt said.

To his surprise, the juggling and not the schoolwork has been the hardest part.

“I’ve basically given up my life,” Mr. Rigby said.

He still has bills to pay, friends calling and family to appease, as well as dealing with his new physical limitations and pain.

“The biggest thing not to let happen is just leave,” Ms. Barrett said.

If that happens, they could leave in poor standing, which ends up on their transcript.

Durham College’s preparatory department helps get mature students ready for post-secondary, making sure they have day-care arrangements, backups and are at a point in their life where they can. Maybe they’re going through a divorce – they may need to focus on their family before coming back to school so their attention isn’t diverted, Ms. Barrett said.

“It’s to make sure they’ve thought of those things,” she said.

Staff also investigates if someone has stopped coming to see if they can come up with a solution. By working with the school, students can arrange for a temporary leave in good standing, emergency loans, and other supports.

The biggest surprise to Mr. Rigby is that he could actually do it and that people are proud of him.

His advice is to embrace it – and get upgrading even if you think you’re smart.

“To gain much you have to risk much,” Ms. Moffatt said. “Change is inevitable; it will come get you whether you want it or not.”