Colt at BCIT

Our oldest son, Colt, applied to BCIT - British Columbia Institute of Technology - last year. He passed the entrance exams with flying colours! For anyone that knows Colt the story I am about to tell is one of wonder.

While Colt was growing up he really struggled with school. He could get caught up in five math problems and take hours to complete them. When he did them they were always correct, but it was the time it took him to complete his work that was remarkable. He would tell me that when he was working through a problem and writing down the information and then moving onto the next part - then he would get confused. He would lose where he was in the problem while he was holding the previous information in his head. It made school very hard for him. Written work was no different. He struggled to get anything of any substance down on paper.

Those were his difficulties, but at the same time, he was equally gifted when it came to making things work, and finding out how problems could be solved. At one point we had him tested, and as far below average as he writing and communication abilities were, just as far into gifted were his mechanical abilities. I was not surprised.

When he was nine years old he took my old blender, some old carseats, some long 2x4 pieces of wood, plus some larger pieces and built an airplane in our basement. He put his little brothers in the carseats, plugged in the blender, turned it on, got into his cockpit, and 'flew' his airplane, complete with working propeller.

Another time, at 12 or 13, he took some scrap wires, a lightbulb and some metal and created a working lamp!! No instructions. Just all in his head.  I always told him he was a genius. He would blow me off. He didn't think he was smart. After all, he was the one that saw and felt how difficult life was for him. The information in his head was accurate; getting it out of his head was the problem.

When he was in Cadets he was given the Obstacle Award. This is an award that is given to the cadet that has overcome the most odds that year. Colt had entered Cadets and had to learn how to write lesson plans and begun public school all in one year. The lesson plans were supposed to take hours for a cadet to accomplish. With Colt's difficulties they took days. But he overcame this. No, it never took a couple hours, but he learned to work around his difficulties. In time he became one of the top 5 cadets out of 70,000 in BC!

Why am I not surprised? This is the boy that rolled over at 2 months of age, sat up in his stroller holding onto the front bar at 6 weeks, sat upright at less than 4 months, walked around furniture at 6 months  2 days, walked across the room at 9 months, took off skiing on his first day at 4.5 years and when told he could not use the chairlift until he could ski properly, conquered it in one day. He then went on that very day to consistently beat me down the slopes!

SO why should I be surprised.

When it came time for Grade 10 and higher levels of education I knew we had to do something different, or he would not get through. We worked through a lot of these difficulties by me scribing for him when it came to longer works. He would narrate to me the essays he was supposed to write for Social Studies. The thoughts were in there: His essays began as 500 word reports and by the time we were one they were up to 3300 words!! That was a lot of typing. When it came to math I was his scribe - he was the mouth and used the calculator. This way he did not forget his steps. He got through Grade 10 with all his classes complete. Not hot grades, but definitely nothing less than a C.

When he hit grade 11 he was on his own. And bit by bit he coped. He worked out very hard and showed me ways he did it. For instance, he had a math tutor. He would see him once a week - learn the concepts, go home and do the test. He never wasted time on the math lessons. He simply got it. And he scored a B in math.

When he graduated he had an 81% average.

Colt then decided he wanted to join the military and be an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer. He applied to BCIT and was accepted.

I had no clue how he would cope with this program that was so intense. Apparently it is a three year program shoved into 16 months. They then go out for a two year apprenticeship. When he is done his position will be that of only 10,000 jobs in the world. The other mechanics work under his position. I had no idea when he set out for this training that it was that intense.

This is Colt's school. I will now go on to brag about what he has accomplished in the last two months.

Colt began school on November 1st. There are eight levels to graduate. Each level is 7.5 weeks long. They then get a four day weekend before they begin the next level. This way if they fail a level they simply go back to the beginning of the level versus the beginning of the course.

Colt's class is made up of seventeen students ranging in age from 19 - 28. Early in the course there was a nomination for Class President. This person represents the class at the meetings. The students were the ones that nominate their choice. Colt and one other guy were nominated for President.

At the same time, the teacher was having each student spend a few hours in the airplane hanger working on the aircraft. During their few hours they were being the 'Crew Chief'. At the end of the evaluation the teacher was to choose his choice for overall Crew Chief. Colt was chosen.

I am very proud of him. He was not only chosen by his peers, but also by his instructor.

Since school began Colt has had constant tests. His first test was the second day of school. He is doing very well. His practical work is scoring 95% and his theory is at 85%.

He explained to me about one of the practical assignments. They had to take a piece of metal and then fashion it into a tool. The measurements had to be within 1/1000th of an inch. First they take it to 1/32 and then they use algebra (you know the stuff you figure you will never use? lol) to get to 1/1000 of an inch! The graduating class had to come in and judge the projects. Colt was told his was best 'by far'.

And he is humble to boot. I have had to dig to get this information. I am sure Colt will go far. He is working very hard - til midnight many nights, and then up at 4:00 am to catch the early bus to be at school at 8:00 am.

Right now he is commuting 2 hours each way to school, but as difficult as it is, it is a blessing, because my sister and her family are putting him up in a basement bedroom and have created a little livingroom for him. He has a safe place to live at a nominal cost.

It is really very remarkable to see him achieving all that I knew he was capable of, but while not losing the difficulties he was born with. To me he is an inspiration of how we can work around our 'issues' to accomplish what is really important to us!

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