Bakersfield College. AA: Mathematics - 1961

Because he was an under-achiever in high school, David Sheppard had no choice but to prove his academic abilities at a junior college before attempting to get admitted to a major university. In the fall of 1961 he enrolled in Bakersfield College in Bakersfield, California. Because of his own ignorance of the junior college system and poor advisement from college staff, he enrolled in a two-year electronics curriculum. His first semester thus wasted, the enrolled in a mathematics curriculum the following spring.

During this time, he was introduced to the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. During the next year, he read everything the Russian ever wrote and even a couple of biographies about him. David became almost overwhelming interested in literature and considered it as a major, but still couldn't drag himself away from math and science.

David also became interested in Greek tragedy through the Oedipus plays of Sophocles. This was to lay the groundwork for the later stages of his life following retirement.