Educating Rita Plays Nic

Rita Zimmerman had 13 younger brothers and sisters to help feed. So, college waited.

Then, Rita had three children of her own. So, college waited. Finally, Rita’s youngest child left her Post Falls home for North Idaho College two years ago and Rita, at 45, joined her.

“You don’t expect to go to school with your mom. She’s supposed to be done,” says Jessica, who’s 20.

Rita quit a $10-an-hour job with benefits at Itron and registered for NIC’s Project Re-entry.

“I’d done this, I’d done that. I decided it was time for my education,” Rita says, pushing her glasses into a secure holding spot on top of her head. “I was obsessed.”

Her orientation class was filled with women in their 40s and 50s. Many had never worked. Disabilities had forced others to find new occupations. Some had been abused. The majority were divorced, bitter, tough. Rita wasn’t sure she belonged.

The class previewed college life and it frightened Rita.

“The hardest thing was learning to study. It was hard to focus. The anxiety of taking tests just killed me,” she says.

Aptitude tests showed Rita was born to farm. But she had had a lifelong interest in nursing. She had worked as a nurse’s aide just out of high school.

She ignored the tests and the little voice in her head that coaxed her to give up. Rita stuck with it, a class or two at a time. She took algebra, which she’d never taken before. It was mind boggling, but Jessica helped.

Rita began to appreciate how quickly Jessica could write a paper - “Just like that,” Rita says with a snap of her fingers. Jessica began to appreciate her mother’s tenacity.

“I took one semester off and know how hard it was to go back,” Jessica says. “I can’t imagine trying to get back into the swing of things after 25 years.”

Rita decided this year to earn a degree in occupational therapy if NIC adds the program. If it doesn’t, Rita may go into teaching. She’s finished five classes and still has years to go - at her current pace - for an associate’s degree. But she’s not afraid anymore.

“The education will be wonderful,” she says. “And that’s what I really want.”

Yo-no-play-de-o

If you penciled “Heidi” into your schedule for tonight, get the eraser. Lake City Playhouse has put the show on hold until its theater is back in shape.

A fire last month scorched costumes and props and left a stinky, burned smell in the little theater.

So, instead of going out to the show, go into your attics, basements or closets and look for clothes from the 1940s and 1950s to replace the ones the theater lost.

Laura Seable, who sings and dances and manages the playhouse, says her group can rebuild most things but needs help replacing costumes. Call 667-1323 to help.

Light up

Here’s an easy one. If you believe in rights for all people, drive with your headlights on Jan. 15.

That’s Martin Luther King Day. The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, Boundary County Human Rights Task Force, Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment and the Disability Action Center chose that day to prove to the world that North Idaho is tolerant.

If you’re not, stay inside after dark.

Bumper cars

Kootenai County Clerk Dan English has a new appreciation for Coeur d’Alene’s traffic situation after a week in California over Christmas.

“Everyone should have to drive in that traffic for a day to appreciate how good we’ve got it on Appleway,” he says.

Where have you gone recently that makes you appreciate North Idaho a little more? Pinpoint it on the map for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; fax to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo