At some point in time, both my parents used drugs
and my father left
my eighth grade year.
So we didn't know if
my father would bring money that week or not. We didn't know
if my mom was going to work that day or not.
We didn't know if we were going to get served dinner that day or not.
So as a result, it was really trying to get used to
the instability of that situation.
Once I got to Michigan I didn't really feel like I belonged.
It was the first time that I didn't believe I could compete.
And I didn't really know why.
I mean I got high test scores just like everybody else. I got accepted just like
everybody else.
I got offered money just like a lot of other people.
But I never really felt like I could compete at a high level here.
I tried a number of different things.
I said well, maybe computer engineering isn't for me, and
I changed my major to civil engineering thinking that that might spark it, and
before I got a chance to really figure out if
that would work, I ended up getting sick
and I failed all my classes.
I talked to people at financial aid, they say it wouldn't be a problem,
take a semester off, and come back. And I did that.
I took the winter semester off to work to save some money. I took out a loan to pay
for my rent for the next year.
I moved to Ann Arbor, said I was going to do this the right way.
I was ready to succeed. After the add / drop deadline, I got
an email and they told me flat out
we have never reinstated one of these scholarships,
and I was so tired of
dealing with the university and not receiving the assistance I needed,
I picked all my stuff up and left, and moved away from Ann Arbor.
I never planned on coming back.
I drove trucks for about three and a half years. I had dealt with
depression and loneliness, anxiety.
I was in a nearly fatal accident.
After that experience it was like, I need to be somewhere else.
God had really spared my life, I need to be doing something.
I need to find out what my calling is.
Two months later I left truck driving and actually moved to England with my wife.
And my main focus was just using what I knew,
which was science, technology, engineering, and math,
and helping students. So I developed a math and music seminar
and I was just really involved with young people over there.
And it just motivated me to get back into school and get back to
where I wanted to be. Somebody, I can't remember who, said
just think about going back to Michigan. I worked my way through the process.
I showed I could succeed here academically.
They took me off of probation. Financial aid actually
admitted that they made a mistake in my case. And it's just been a completely
different experience.
Part of it is, I'm a more mature student.
At a certain point we all have to stop playing the victim to something
in our lives. We all have something going on
where we look at it and we feel wronged. If I'm hungry, there's somebody that's
been a whole lot hungrier than I am. If I'm frustrated with classes, there's
somebody that's gone through that as well. And I said, if I come back, I'm going to
milk this think for all that it's worth. That's why I do what I do.
That's why I mentor. That's why I reach out to kids. One day I hope to have one
of those plaques on the wall, because I touched enough people, and I changed
the mindsets of enough people, so that when
nontraditional students come behind me, they won't have it as difficult.
People will know that they can succeed, and they can
accomplish whatever they want at Michigan.