Achieving literacy sets man on path to law degree

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At the age of 34, Alex Augier has achieved his simple yet big dream: to read and write like other people, and to get a high school diploma.

He went back to school six years ago to pick up where he left off at the age of 14 when he was almost illiterate.

"Before, when I watched people write, I used to watch them and just admire people like that because it was like magic . . . 'Boy this guy is a man-magician,' I'd say. You know, they know how to write with ease and flow, and so cool."

Augier remembers school.

"Back in 1980, they (schoolmates) treated me kind of rough. I got bullied for at least three or four years there. That's when I took up martial arts as well. I excelled in a few things, like I have a black belt as well and I won the Western Canada (competition) in Calgary in 1994."

Growing up in a Metis family with a sister and four brothers in multicultural Uranium City in northern Saskatchewan, Augier was familiar with some of his ancestors' culture.

"I am pretty proud of it too, because every time I went and kickboxed and stuff like that, I would have a headband with feathers hanging from me."

In 1981, Augier was diagnosed with dyslexia.

"I always knew I had a problem in that area, and as the years were going by they kept pushing me to the next school, next teacher, because they didn't know how to handle people like me, and so I eventually dropped out of school because I was the oldest kid in the school."

After, Augier got trained on heavy equipment by his father. "I drove heavy equipment all those years since I was 16."

He said labor was the only work he could get, so he went for a full-time job in Fort McMurray. "I lived pretty good for a lot of years, making really good money. When I was about 20 or 21, I was making $61,000 a year."

After a work-related accident in 1996, Augier couldn't continue his job. Since his doctor recommended that he go back to school, Augier went to the Project Literacy program. He did a test that showed his reading and writing skills were at a Grade 5 level.

"That's how little I knew all those years, eh, couldn't even fill out an application, had to get either my brother or my sister or my best friend to do it." His tutor, Ken Campbell, taught him for more than two years, three times a week.

"My comprehension was getting better, my writing was getting better, my reading was getting really good, they told me."

Then Augier went to a second-chance school known as StoreFront in Kelowna. His aptitude test showed his literacy had risen to Grade 8.

Augier took several high school courses to finish his diploma. "It was extremely hard. I know it was hard for me because when you have a disorder of dyslexia, you have to work harder then the next guy."

Augier lives with his common-law wife of 14 years Loan Vo, and daughter Alexandra, 3. He said Vo has supported him throughout the school. "Oh, big time. She was my rock."

This fall, Augier passed an aptitude test for an advanced English program at Okanagan University College, and will be starting Jan. 6.

"I am going to be going after criminology, a degree in criminology; I really like law lots," he said. Becoming a lawyer is his "ultimate goal."

Augier is not afraid of the work. "I used to be afraid before, but now since I walked through these doors of school and I got my Grade 8 and ever since I graduated too, I have more esteem and self-confidence. There's nothing I can't take on anymore."