Meet 79-year-old university student of Puebla

Felipe Espinosa Tecuapetla is a 79-year-old student of the degree in Process Engineering and Industrial Management of the University of Puebla (BUAP).

A widower and father of five, Mr Espinosa reveals the secret that has driven him to pursue his dream of studying Industrial Engineering at this stage of his life: “Everything lies here” as he takes his index finger to his forehead “and here” as he takes his hand down to his heart.

Using a shabby sack for a backpack, he stays away from escalators as he was about to lose one leg because of them once. He waves and greets his twenty-year-old classmates “Good morning boys”, who make his stay in the campus more hospitable.

“I keep studying and working, these are my assets. I think life is not a difficult matter, one makes it difficult for oneself, really. For my part, I see things are easy”.

Mr Espinosa started working at age 17 and was able to complete his middle years' studies until recently. Six years ago he completed his senior high school studies and enrolled in BUAP after scoring 400 out of 450 points in his entrance exam to enter the degree in Process Engineering and Industrial Management of the University of Puebla (BUAP), where he studies in the mornings.

As an after-school activity, Mr Espinosa leaves to Puebla’s supply center to sell fruit and vegetables, this is how he manages to match school with work.

He confessed that he drank and smoke since his teenage years, but that he has quit both habits now, the latter after he suffered from a work accident where he fractured his leg and was told by doctors that he would have it amputated.

Mr Espinosa refused to accept his medical diagnostic and stopped working to fully recover: “I stopped working and used home remedies, kept my legs elevated when sleeping until I fully recovered. If one gives in to defeat, well you lose everything. I believe that a source of power and will stems from each of us”.

As a reminder of that experience, he was left with a skin necrosis in his foot.

German car manufacturer, Audi, has decided to install its assembly plant in the municipality of San José Chiapa, Puebla, some 60km from the state’s capital, where the University of Puebla will open a campus to give several engineering degrees in the Inter-agency Complex for the Automotive Industry.

Mr Espinosa is ready to move into the complex by leasing an apartment with internet access, so that he will be able to use the laptop provided by the university, a device which he currently uses inside the university campus, only.

With a long road ahead of him, Mr Espinosa is confident and looks forward to what future will bring: “My hearing is good, mi sight is good, there is nothing to prevent me from moving on”.

Mr Espinosa is not worried about continuing with his source of employment, for as he says: “I have worked all my life, I will find a way to match both school and work”.

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