- Student Online
After a long career running his own construction business, Bob Grier embarked on retirement by volunteering to teach math to inmates at a New Hampshire prison, an experience that prompted him to further his education.
A U.S. Army veteran and engineer by trade, Grier is an online SNHU student who completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2012.
"I realized through volunteering that by getting a degree in psychology, maybe it would broaden my base in terms of helping some of these people," he says.
A New Hampshire resident who grew up in Boston, Grier earned an associate’s degree in architectural engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology in 1958 before serving three years in the Army. He later operated a Massachusetts firm specializing in the fabrication and erection of steel structures for three decades.
Although he’s in his 70s, Grier decided to pursue a psychology degree after hearing stories from the prisoners he mentored.
"Many of these individuals were in prison for psychological reasons," he says. "A lot of depression, lack of confidence, not being secure in who they were."
Studying online has provided Grier the flexibility to pursue a degree on his own time. And once he's finished, he hopes to make a difference.
"I'd like to be able to do something to help people from ending up in jail," he says.
