Opinion ID: 2135435
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Age and Educational Background

Text: The Shepherd claimant had a general agricultural work history and was 45 years old at the time of his accident, some 21 years older than Petersen at the time of his injury. Petersen was only 29 years old at the time of the Department's initial hearing in 1987, and is still only 35 years old with at least 30 years until general retirement age. Further, while the Shepherd claimant had a high school equivalency degree, Petersen attended and graduated from Sioux Falls Lincoln High School where, as he testified at the 1992 hearing, he was involved in track, football, and cross-country as well as wrestling, where he placed second in state as a sophomore. Our intention here is not to belittle the accomplishments of the claimant in Shepherd, but simply to point out that Petersen's educational background can be characterized as more well rounded. In addition, the evidence showed that Petersen is an intelligent individual who did well in his managerial capacity with Employer and would be intellectually able to complete a college course.