Joan and Terry Harris
After 25 years in the telecommunications industry working in cable, Terry Harris thought he was set until retirement. “With wireless replacing cable, you could see the industry changing. But I didn't think it would hit before my career was over,” he recalled. It did. Harris, then 47, weighed his options and decided to go to Durham Tech to train as an optician. In fact, his wife Joan, a longtime stay-at-home mom, decided to enroll as well.
The couple both entered the five-semester program in 2003. The program is online, making it convenient for busy adults. Students also come to the campus for labs one day a month. The program trains opticians to create eyeglasses from eye doctors' lens prescriptions. They cut the lenses to fit an eyeglass frame and adjust the finished glasses to fit the customer
“If this program was not online, I couldn't have done it,” said Terry, who was able to hold down a job during the day and do his school work a couple of hours at night.”
Today Joan is a licensed optician in Raleigh and Terry serves as district manager of a major retail chain's optical division in Eastern North Carolina.
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