DECISION
“I’ve always kind of struggled with anxiety and depression, and so when I get really anxious, everything scares me. Coming to do something so big and huge was like: I had to completely shut off my brain and just make a decision.”
Dan's Story
EXPERIENCE
“I thought, you know, just about everything out there has got computers, and I didn’t know how to run one. So, I figured I’d better go to school..”
Farrahl's Story
SURVIVING
“I’m a survivor. I’m that. I mean, I’ve been through a lot. I celebrate my 40th birthday at the end of the month. It’s amazing. Here I am, raising four kids on my own and going to school and working and taking care of my grandma. I have a lot of people say: how do you do it? I don’t know, I just do it. There’s no option. It just has to be done.”
Gina's Story
TRIUMPH
“I said for my birthday I’m going to make sure I get my GED and then I’m going to go across the hall and enroll in college. I didn’t understand that college accepted people unless they were super smart and didn’t just drop out of school.”
Jessica's Story
GETTING IT DONE
“The thing about being a line staff in human services is that you don’t really ever go anywhere. You kind of just work with people and you work with people and unless you get a degree, you just kind of stay in that position forever.”
Joe's Story
RESILIENCE
“Factors that have benefited my sobriety and my recovery—school and education. There are a lot of ideals that I believe—like, I know for myself—that I was raised with, that I learned. Coming to college has led me to realize what is actually relevant, and I can drop those old ideals and gain new ones.”
Marvin's Story
Purpose
“My purpose, honestly, is to be the best person I can be.”
Monica's Story
Finding Home
“I spent the next year and a half attending school and living in a tent. I studied marine science—of course that’s what you study when you go to school in Hawaii.”
Sandy's Story
THE SMART ONE
“My older sister was the smart one, I was the one with the big heart that cared, and my little sister she was the pretty one. And we were all categorized into these little places and so I always did horrible in school, because I wasn’t the smart one, so I didn’t have to.”