It’s never too late to go back to school. Just ask Chuck Hinshaw, one of MSU Denver’s first students, who, at the age of 69, has returned to the University to finish his degree. While he’s currently majoring in psychology – he wants to counsel individuals battling addiction – Hinshaw had his sights set on a different field in 1965.
“At that point I thought I wanted to be a physical therapist,” Hinshaw said. “That was the plan.”
Hinshaw, whose lifelong mission has been to help others, worked at Denver Health Medical Center – then Denver General – and was intrigued by physical therapy and how it helped patients “get their lives back.”
“Audio and physical therapy for people are both, extremely slow, minor results type-of-thing until they gain ground at some point,” Hinshaw said. “And then people go through miraculous changes in their life because there are these [physical therapists] who help them do it.”
Hinshaw only made it through a year and a half of school, however. He took a different path in 1968 when he began refinishing furniture and pianos. He worked for a company for five years – where he was eventually named foreman – and then decided to open his own business, which he ran for 40 years until the 2008 recession forced him into semi-retirement.
The transition was hard on Hinshaw: He fell into a depression until his girlfriend, Teddy, stepped in and helped move him out of his rut. The couple enrolled at Red Rocks Community College together.
“It was a choice of going with her or losing her, and after 27 years I thought the better choice was tagging along,” Hinshaw said.
At Red Rocks, Hinshaw studied sociology, philosophy and psychology for personal reasons that are tied to his own recovery from addiction.
“Self-examination is really the key to understanding what the nature of addiction is,” Hinshaw said.
After receiving an associate’s degree in general studies, Hinshaw followed Teddy once again, this time back to MSU Denver, which seemed entirely new. When Hinshaw first attended, the Auraria campus did not even exist. Metro State College consisted of just four buildings spread out through downtown Denver: a former floral warehouse, the student center on Bannock Street, a building designed for legal offices on 14th Street and the YMCA building for physical education classes.
“There was no identity to Metro at that time because it was so new,” Hinshaw said. “There weren’t any school clubs. There wasn’t any structure there that gave you a sense of community whatsoever.”
But Hinshaw feels that sense of community now. He is in awe of the beautiful landscape, buildings, and incorporation of clubs and events around campus. “It’s huge,” Hinshaw said. “The difference is just monumental. I’m so proud of what Metro has become.”
One thing has remained constant, according to Hinshaw, however: MSU Denver’s commitment to making accessible to all.
“I love seeing all the shades of humanity we have here at Metro,” Hinshaw said.
As MSU Denver observes its 50th anniversary on Oct. 1, Hinshaw has his own reasons to celebrate, having overcome personal demons to further his education and transform his life.
The Forum Building in 1965, formally adjacent to the Denver City and County Building, was Metropolitan State University of Denver’s original main building, housing administration until 1977. (MSU Denver)
Built in 2012, the Student Success Building is the center of Metropolitan State University of Denver today and the institutions first wholly owned building on campus. (MSU Denver)