At this time, most students were using the woodworking facilities, and although Fitzgerald had a deep interest in wood as a media, his lack of financial resources led him to re-explore the boneyards and scrap metal facilities of his youth. Some of these metal fabricators were already donating steel to the industrial arts department at ISU-E. Fitzgerald was naturally drawn back to these places where large amounts of raw materials were available for making sculpture. Due to the lack of interest in metal work by the rest of the students, the metalworking space and equipment were almost exclusively available for him to use. Due to his experience with the equipment, he was given a job as a studio technician. This allowed him even more time to create sculpture. Being a studio tech also gave him additional access to the visiting professors from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, who were hired to teach sculpture and jewelry making. These professors were primarily recent graduates from the Carbondale School of Art, with masteršs degrees in sculpture. Their influence on Fitzgerald helped him immensely to form his personal direction and fields of interest in sculpture, which were, at that time, the forging of steel and cast metal. It was also through this exposure that Fitzgerald decided to further his studies in the field of sculpture at SIU Carbondale.