Back to School

By Benjamin Scales, RRO

Editor’s Note: With his permission, we are sharing this letter IIBEC recently received from member and RRO, Benjamin Scales. You can read more about our new online learning portal here.

I am writing you today to let you know how far the cascading positive effects of your learning program within IIBEC can reach.

In the late ’80s, I was enrolled at the University of Kentucky (UK). During this time, I was not a good student and lacked the discipline required to complete my college education. While I have gone on to become quite successful as president and CEO of two corporations, I have always considered this a personal failure. It has been the source of many sleepless nights, and I saw it as a weakness within my character.

I joined IIBEC to learn more about the industry that has given me so much over the years. The education I have received has been invaluable to my personal and professional growth. While dedicating myself to the RRO and now the RRC educational programs, I proved that with time and persistence, I can learn new things. There are so many areas of building envelope design and engineering that I would never have been exposed to, much less have the resources available to help me learn and understand.

The realization that distance learning opportunities are real and can successfully educate led me to question the possibility that a similar learning program might exist from UK. After getting in touch with the admissions department and speaking with the committee that chairs the Project Graduate program, I am proud to write that I am enrolled as a student at the University of Kentucky for the coming fall semester to complete my bachelor’s degree.

Without the confidence gained from going through the IIBEC educational programs and passing the credentialing exam earning my RRO and hopefully RRC next, I would never have entertained the thought of going back to finish my degree. I have redoubled my efforts to grow within this industry and owe it to you and the IIBEC programs to make this impossibility possible.