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SAIT valedictorian from Blackfalds bounces back after recession

Jun 19, 2018 | 11:07 AM

A central Alberta man is sharing his inspiring post-secondary success story which began with him getting laid off from his oil and gas industry job and ended with him as valedictorian.

Kevin O’Brien, who’s lived in the area since 1985 and currently calls Blackfalds home alongside his wife and two kids, was working as a wireline operator when the most recession hit. He’d worked in the industry for more than a dozen years.

Since then, O’Brien has spent two years at SAIT’s MacPhail School of Energy working towards a diploma in Power Engineering Technology, and recently gave his valedictorian speech at the school’s convocation.

“When I was wirelining, I thought I was really happy. I thought I was happy with being able to pay the bills,” he recalls. “I was going away for 15 days, and then back for six, working all over the place. After that all ended, I realized paying the bills wasn’t actually making me very happy.”

O’Brien also has a degree in kinesiology from the University of Lethbridge, but was never able to put it to good use. After having a long conversation with his wife, they decided the time was now to go back to school, particularly with the NDP government’s support for education, he notes.

“When I first showed up at SAIT, I was the oldest guy in my class, but I had way more experience than anybody else, so a lot of the kids looked up to me. I made friendships with a lot of kids that are younger than my stepdaughter,” the 45-year-old says, chuckling. “It’s that classic saying that when one door closes, another one opens because I had no idea I was capable of doing some of the things I did, both in the education and the actual work process of it.”

Ultimately, O’Brien says, he wants his kids to know that nothing is ever out of reach, regardless of what point you’re at in life.

O’Brien told fellow SAIT graduates during his speech that they are the “now generation,” not the next one, and that if they see something wrong, an injustice or an intolerance, to stand up and let the world “see your actions.”

“Give a voice to the movements or people who cannot be heard,” he stated, also thanking his family for their unwavering support throughout the process of being laid off and deciding to go to school in Calgary. “Take everything you’ve learned here at SAIT and step out into the world as confident, proud, courageous 2018 SAIT graduates. Congratulations to us all.”

As a result of his new education, O’Brien has since achieved full-time employment as a process operator for Syncrude in Fort McMurray.