By Greg Hardesty, contributing writer Teresa Hodges recalls seeing surveying data on maps while working for the City of Carlsbad and wondering what the numbers meant. One day, she told herself, I’m going to learn about that. And so, at 62 years old, she is.
Last year, Hodges took her first surveying course at Santiago Canyon College in Orange. The tough 90-minute, one-way commute from her office in San Diego County a couple of times a week for three-hour evening classes didn’t deter her. Things got easier, driving-wise, the next semester, when Hodges took a follow-up course on advanced plane surveying.
Now, she’s also taking classes in SCC’s water utility science program with the goal of becoming a wastewater treatment operator or water treatment operator. “The instructors are all encouraging,” Hodges said. “It’s been a fabulous and wonderful journey.
” The same could be said of Hodges’ life. A former Marine with a varied professional career that has included managing a women’s athletic clothing store, Hodges, along with her husband, Joseph, has raised four children who now are in their 30s. Two decades ago, Hodges overcame two extended and potentially debilitating illnesses to return to college.
Her thirst for learning comes from her parents. “They always encouraged us to be avid readers and to get a good education,” said Hodges, who grew up in Dayton, Ohio. A utilities engineering technician for the City of Carlsbad’s Municipal Water District, .
H.
