At 57, this new college graduate is changing careers to help other Tri-Citians
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Tri-Cities Graduations 2022
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Wayne Ellis is at the age where most people start to think about retirement.
But on Friday he will be sitting in a sea full of young adults who could be his children, waiting to receive his degree from Columbia Basin College.
Ellis, 57, worked in the truck driving industry for most of his career, ranging from a truck driver himself to teaching a new generation of drivers.
Eventually, he ran into a problem as an instructor. Many of his driving students spoke Spanish, which meant the school needed someone who was fluent in the language to teach them. And Ellis said he has dyslexia, making it hard for him to learn a new language.
His new plan
So in August 2019, he decided to turn his life around and search for a new job with the help of WorkSource — a website that helps people find resources when looking for employment.
Employment specialists from WorkSource brought up the idea of him returning to school because he already had a two-year degree from another community college.
He settled on the project management field as a way of pursuing his dream of helping others move up by investing in home ownership.
Alongside his wife, Ellis hopes to help people who are having a rough time getting into the home-buying process, including those who are just starting out in the world with a job that doesn’t pay well and others who don’t have a retirement plan.
Ellis hopes to buy houses that people usually steer away from — houses needing renovations or in less desirable neighborhoods.
After buying the properties, the couple’s goal is to turn them into a place someone would want to buy and live in.
“We want to update them to security with smart features, then find those people who are trying to get their world back together and help them with (the buying) process,” Ellis said.
A two-year mortgage history is required to buy a home. Ellis said he hopes to work with people who don’t have that background to get them to where they can buy a home.
They will own the homes and offer the financing themselves to new buyers.
Ellis said going down the project management path has helped him see this goal clearly.
His time at CBC
Going into his project management classes at CBC in 2019, he thought he was going to fly through them easily because he had already worked on projects in the past, including creating a new curriculum as a truck driving instructor. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
On his first day, he realized the online space for his courses, Canvas, was already open and his classmates were a week ahead of him in their coursework.
“I was so overwhelmed, just (with) the technology and trying to figure it out ... and with dyslexia, which I haven’t had to deal with or face since I was a kid,” he said.
But, in one of his 100-level classes that first quarter, he instantly fell in love with the content even though it felt as if the professor was speaking Greek. From then on, he knew he made the right choice.
Ellis said since the start of his time back at school, CBC has challenged him not only at an educational level, but with his belief system as well.
He has always been open-minded in the sense that he would do research on certain subjects, which would potentially lead to him changing his beliefs at times.
“I still have my own opinion, but my response to things is different because I challenge my own faith. Just because somebody has a different belief ... you can’t judge,” Ellis said. “My job isn’t to judge, it’s to love and to work with that without my face cringing.”
Ellis said he didn’t have the best relationship with his dad growing up, and even ran away from home at one point. Now, his dad is encouraging him as he faces graduation.
His dad was ill recently, and Ellis wanted to go out to visit him. “I was given direct orders to finish school, and I am,” he said.
Ellis still has two more classes he needs to take over the summer to get his degree, but he will be walking at graduation this weekend.
CBC’s commencement ceremony for 1,448 graduates is at 7 p.m. June 17 at Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco.
Admission is free to family and friends, but carpooling is encouraged due to a limited amount of parking.
For more information on graduation visit CBC’s website.
