Learn more about Clark College’s high school adult diploma program at
www.clark.edu/student_services/adult_diploma.php
Peter Smith will cross the stage Saturday at Clark College and collect his high school diploma — 30 years later than expected.
Life’s twists and turns, including a struggle with alcohol and drugs and time in jail, delayed the 48 year old’s graduation.
Smith, of Vancouver, will be one of about 100 graduates at the adult high school diploma program and GED graduation ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday in the O’Connell Sports Complex at Clark College.
During the 2013-14 school year, 936 Clark students completed their GED and 970 completed their high school diploma.
Smith is one of three students speaking at the graduation.
He hit rock bottom — and found sobriety — when he spent two months in the Clark County Jail after being arrested for a DUI in early 2013.
“The nurse in jail told me, ‘You’re in bad shape. Your blood pressure is off the charts. Your liver is huge.’ I realized I was getting old. I wasn’t ready to die. I quit out of self-preservation,” Smith said. “I can’t go back to jail. People in jail are awful. Not good people to hang out with.”
Smith credits his girlfriend of two years, Sally Jirmasek, as a driving force that helped him turn around his life.
When he was in jail, Smith and Jirmasek talked on the phone daily. She wrote letters every day and visited when she could.
“It was a rough time. It was a lot of commitment,” Jirmasek said. “I think everybody needs compassion and support to do the best they can.”
After he was released from jail, she encouraged him to return to school to earn his high school diploma.
“You have to make your own choices for what you want to do in life,” she said. “He’s decided he wants to spend his life doing something positive instead of being drunk all the time.”
“I’ve done a lot of crappy stuff in my life,” said Smith, who started drinking and smoking pot at age 10.
Eventually, he graduated to harder drugs. He dropped out of school in ninth grade. He’s had six or seven DUIs over the last 30 years, he said. He figures he’s been in jail about 15 times, mostly for a week or 10 days for drugs, unpaid parking tickets and, when he was young, for stealing.
Although he gave up drugs many years ago, his alcohol addiction still had a firm grip on his life. Before his arrest, he said he’d start each morning with a shot and a beer. Then around 3 p.m., he really started drinking.
“I drank every day up until that day I got caught,” Smith said. “That’s how it is for most alcoholics. You drink and you drive home. The odds are you’re going to get caught.”
When he was arrested for his DUI, he’d been working as a truck driver and lost his commercial driver’s license.
“I’ve been to AA a million times. I’ve quit drugs and alcohol many times over my lifetime,” he said. “This time is different.”
Smith said he does not regret getting caught driving drunk or going to jail.
“My path led me here. This is where I’m supposed to be,” he said. “I believe everything happens for a reason. I never would be here if I hadn’t been caught.”
“It is a huge deal for him to go back to school. He’s always had it in him,” Jirmasek said. “Over the years, he took classes and tried to complete his diploma. But now that he has the clearness of mind, he’s excelling. It comes easy for him to excel at anything he does.”
If Smith could give advice to his ninth grade self who dropped out of school, he’d say: “Stay in school. Focus.”
Retraining as welder
Later this month, Smith starts the welding program at Clark College. He’s spent his life working with his hands in manufacturing, and then driving a truck. He’s always worked on cars and motorcycles.
“I can’t wait to get into the welding shop because when I put my hands on things, that’s when I excel.”
By the end of summer 2015, he plans to have earned his certificate of proficiency as a welding technician. He’s considering staying in the program for two more quarters to earn his Associates of Applied Technology degree in welding technologies.
“By the time I’m 50, I’ll be a welder,” Smith said. “It’s not too late.”
Smith has stayed sober since his time in jail. He’s replaced beer with tonic water. He’s improved his health and works out three to four times a week.
He says his graduation is bittersweet because his father died in November and won’t see him cross the stage to get his diploma.
“My dad would be proud,” Smith said. “He had the best work ethic. That’s something he instilled in me.”
But Jirmasek will be cheering loudly for Smith on Saturday.
“I couldn’t be happier and more inspired and more proud of him after what he’s done after all these years,” Jirmasek said. “He’s spent a lot of years as an alcoholic, but he’s turned everything around.”
“Now I’m hopeful. I haven’t been hopeful for a long time,” Smith said. “It’s hard to be hopeful when you’re drunk all the time.”
