Leading by example, Terry Garrett hopes to inspire others

You can’t help but smile in the presence of Terry Garrett. His upbeat, positive and inquisitive nature is nothing short of infectious and inspiring.

Garrett lost his sight at the age of 10, but at the urging of his parents he never felt sorry for himself. Instead, he wanted to live a productive life—one that would inspire others.

From a young age, Garrett knew he wanted to pursue a career in engineering. “I would play with a lot of Legos and connects and I couldn’t read the books so I had to come up with my own mechanical things,” he said.

As the first blind person to graduate from the mechanical engineering program at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Garrett posed new challenges for the program.

“One of the great things about being an engineer is one of the things we endeavor to do is solve problems. And so when Terry came to the engineering program and was without sight, that was a problem. That wasn’t a problem that we worried about, it was a problem that we endeavored to solve,” said Peter Gorder, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Garrett and Gorder faced new challenges in the engineering program

Terry Garrett

Since graduating and entering the professional world, Garrett has stayed connected to the university and the engineering department. At the request of Gorder, Garrett posed an idea for a senior design project.

While Garrett is passionate about health and physical exercise, one thing he struggled with was swimming. “I can’t swim straight to save my life ‘cause I can’t see the little black line that usually visual people follow.”

Garrett enjoys swimming despite it's challenges

Terry Garrett

To solve the problem, the students devised a series of small boxes that emit a beeping sound to provide blind swimmers with guidance so they can stay in the lane and know when they’re approaching the end of the pool.

Garrett’s desire to stay connected to UCCS and inspire young people remains strong.

“I would say that I don’t define myself as a blind person, but I define myself as someone who has overcome major challenges and is always striving to try new activities and new ways to push myself to not only make myself feel more accomplished but to help inspire others,” he said. “I want to be a light out there for other people – blind and sighted.”

The feeling is mutual for Gorder. “I am certainly hopeful that you’ll stay connected to us,” he told Garrett. “At the very least, continuing to interact with our students through project sponsoring, and continuing to inspire them.”

Terry Garrett graduated from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in 2012 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering