Kurt Keneipp worked at Whirlpool in Evansville for 18 years: 12 years on the line and six in management.
At almost 50 years old, Keneipp decided now was his opportunity to go back to school.
So that’s what he did, taking the necessary courses required to become a high school social sciences teacher.
“Here was my chance to have a second career,” Keneipp said. “I figured if I could handle being a Whirlpool manager, then I had finally passed through the fires to deal with high school kids.”
Keneipp originally received a bachelor of arts degree in history in 1984 from Millikin University, a small school in Decatur, Ill., that his older twin sisters had attended.
He worked various jobs at places like oil fields and grain mills before finally working at Whirlpool.
“I kind of lived the Jack London story for eight years,” Keneipp said. “Like most people that got a liberal arts degree in the 80s, I went down to the factory and got a job.”
When Whirlpool closed down last year, the company filed a petition to the federal government for a Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) which basically said employees would receive help in finding another job, which for Keneipp included furthering his education.
Keneipp said the hardest part of coming back to college was the classes in which he was placed. Because he already had a degree, he started back taking 300 and 400 level courses, forcing him to write lengthy research papers for the first time in almost 30 years with little help.
The technology used on today’s college campuses was also a change from the collegiate life Keneipp knew, forcing him to familiarize himself more, something he said his generation can be resistant to.
“If you don’t try to learn new things, then you get left behind,” Keneipp said.
The dynamic of the classroom has also changed for Keneipp. He said classes used to be students listening to the professor’s lecture without asking many questions.
Now, there is more freedom and discussion on the student’s part.
Keneipp said there is just as much to learn from fellow students as from the professors and said that it is refreshing to be around the younger generation.
“It’s good being around young people,” Keneipp said. “There’s still a lot of optimism…There’s still that bit of “Animal House,” because you all are still so dang young.”
Keneipp completes his second run at college in fall 2012, on 12/12/12, as he likes to put it. He will be going to classes during the intervening summer sessions as well.
“I know that this is a gift to go to school,” Keneipp said. “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”
