Non-traditional student says ride's been worth it

The light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter every day for Kalispell resident Pat Reilly, one of many valley residents whose life was turned upside down by the economic downturn a few years ago.

After losing his job in a county with a high unemployment rate where other jobs were scarce, at age 53 Reilly decided to return to college and earn a teaching degree.

He’s in the midst of a 16-week student-teaching stint at Glacier High School, among the final tasks and college classes he must complete before earning two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Great Falls in August.

Now 55, Reilly clearly fits the definition of a nontraditional college student.

He’s been on an accelerated schedule at Flathead Valley Community College, also enrolling in the University of Great Falls bachelor’s program that operates in a dual-enrollment program on the FVCC campus.

He started college in January 2010 and has been enrolled every semester, including summer and intercessions, to earn his degrees in less than three calendar years. He’s on track to graduate with bachelor’s degrees in secondary education and broad-field social science.

Very few of the college credits he earned in the 1970s when he was a student-athlete at the University of Idaho carried forward into this foray, so Reilly said it was almost like starting from scratch.

But, it’s nearly finished, he says.

He will wrap up his student teaching at Glacier in late April. He’s currently taking two online University of Great Falls classes — assessments and statistics. And during the intercession he will take his final two classes on campus, psychology and math.

“I’ll need coddling for the math class,” he said, with a laugh. He admits he saved the worst for last, in his mind.

Reilly teaches U.S. history and Western civilization and is slowly breaking in to teaching street law. His mentor teacher is Mark Harkins, the history department head at Glacier High.

Reilly prepares lesson plans that Harkins reviews and makes suggestions for improving. Reilly describes those reviews as “both fortunate and discouraging.

“Mark is an incredible history teacher,” Reilly said. “The bar is set way up there. It’s tough for me. I struggle to reach that bar.”

Reilly, however, also describes Harkins as “the most compassionate mentor teacher I could ever have.”

Harkins has taught high school history for 21 years and taught three of Reilly’s children.

“I wanted to teach for him because of what my kids said,” Reilly said.

His days are long but Reilly says it’s easy to stay upbeat around teenagers, who “are always smiling and fun to be around.

“The kids in this school are a dream for a student teacher,” he said. “I could not ask for better kids in a classroom. I’ve never had a discipline problem.”

The first thing he discovered in his return to a high school was that he recaptured some of his youth, while at the same time realizing how old he was.

“I’m teaching World War II now, then we’ll move to the Cold War and pretty soon I can throw the book away and just tell the students what I remember from life,” Reilly said.

He was one of the teachers who traveled to Helena in February with Glacier students who competed in the We the People competition.

“When I walked out of there, I don’t know if I’ve ever been so proud of the kids,” he said. “I realized these are the kids who are going to run our country and I felt good about that.”

Reilly estimated he spends 30 hours a week preparing lesson plans and reading the course material he will be teaching. He teaches five periods a day, including three on his own and two in a team-teaching setting.

A normal work day runs from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Then Reilly heads home to focus on his online classes. Soon his day will stretch about another hour when he joins the Glacier football team for spring drills. A college quarterback, Reilly will help out as a quarterbacks coach two mornings a week.

Reilly readily admits returning to college post-50, taking full course loads, no breaks and now student teaching have been “the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. And I designed nuclear power plants and shut a nuclear plant down.”

Yet, he doesn’t hesitate for a second when asked if the last two and a half years have been worth it.

“Yes.”

But, he says, “the boat is still upside down. It’s been difficult. It’s the hardest, most stressful thing I’ve ever done. And I’ve done some interesting things, but this one here tops them all.”

Reilly plans to start job hunting very soon. He’s optimistic about his prospects at finding a teaching job.

Reilly said his wife, Rhonda, is “ready for me to start making money.”

His college costs “have stretched our bank accounts.” While many Flathead residents who lost jobs in the last few years qualified for work-force training grants that paid for college, Reilly wasn’t eligible for those grants. He’s paid his own way except for a $1,000 grant from Flathead Electric Cooperative that he received last May.

Without support from his wife and from Harkins, Reilly says he probably wouldn’t have made it this far.

“I juggle a lot, but it’s worth it,” he said. “The thing that keeps me going is the kids. I have an incredible relationship with them.”

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.