Help me stay at UF, Aerospace Engineer
Donation protected
Hi, my name is Jeff. I only ask if you read this you read to the end, regardless of whether you can contribute to my cause or not.
No one knew when I was born not breathing with an umbilical cord wrapped around my neck three times, how that event foreshadowed the rest of my life. From the second I came into this world the odds have been stacked against me.
In my youth, my mother stayed at home raising my three sisters and me, while my father would come home from one job, only to get ready to leave for another. While I was in the fifth grade, my mother filed a restraining order against my father, and as a result, they separated for a year. At this time, I started getting in all sorts of trouble at school, and rebelling against my parents. By the time I was sixteen, I was hanging out with the wrong crowd in school. I began experimenting with drugs and developed an addiction to prescription medication that quickly spiraled out of control. Five months out of high school, after barely graduating, I got in trouble with the law and found myself sitting in a jail cell.
The state penitentiary became my home for the next four years. Before, during, and after I went to prison, I was told repeatedly that I would never amount to anything, that the only thing I would be successful at was attaining a trip back to the penitentiary. I almost began to doubt myself and believe everything I heard. Over time however, through perseverance and determination, I taught myself to let these constant belittlements serve as my motivation to achieve.
Upon being released, in November 2007, I worked various jobs, two full time and one part time. Although I had a record, I was always a hard and diligent worker. A year later I started working as a waiter at a fine dining waterfront restaurant. At my ninety day review, the general manager told me he loved my work ethic and if I was still there in two years he would like for me to enter their M.I.T (manager in training) program. After doing this for a year, I began to think of my dad and how hard he worked to support us when I was growing up. I realized it was me breaking my back to make ends meet now, only I was just supporting myself. Furthermore I had the opportunity to converse with clientele, most of which had attended college and had a career rather than a job, whose upbringing and outlook on life was vastly different from my own. Being a recently released convict and looking for a way to turn my life around, I was truly inspired. I was impressed not by their lavish lifestyles, but rather by whom they were, well rounded individuals. I wanted to be able to set and accomplish goals. I wanted more for myself out of life. As I aspired to be the best version of me, I knew college would not only give me a way to attain this in life, but that it was my only means to show that I really can turn my life around.
Come January 2010 I took my first two college courses at the local community college, remedial elementary algebra and English. I treated school like I did my jobs, my professors like my bosses. After the summer of 2011, I received an email from the Honors Institute program at my school telling me I was eligible for enrollment due to my high G.P.A. By accident, I ended up going to the honors society chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, to inquire how I could enroll. It was the best mistake I ever made. I became a member of both the program and the society.
I instantly connected with the society’s chapter president. She encouraged me to become an active member and to check out a few of the other clubs she was involved in. I got involved with the Brain Bowl club, it’s a 4 vs.4 college style jeopardy tournament, in which members would compete against other schools throughout the state. To make a long story short, I eventually was named captain of the team. I also worked my way to becoming the society’s chapter’s Vice President of Leadership, Service, and Communications. During this time I had doors opened to me I never imagined would exist for someone of my status. I became a tutor to the intercollegiate athletics teams and accumulated 284 hours of volunteer service.
All this was accomplished while still maintaining a full time job where I had been promoted to Lead Front of House Trainer. This meant from the day you stated working at my restaurant I was responsible for overseeing the coaching, mentoring, and training of all new servers and bartenders regarding menu items, company policies and procedures.
In my last semester at the community college, spring 2013, while applying to schools to transfer to, my honors society advisor approached me and said he would like to make me one of his two nominations to compete for the USA Today All-Academic team. This truly humbled me. I never in a million years imagined someone like a college professor would think of me in that way. Needless to say I applied. Unfortunately, I wasn’t named to the All USA team, there are only 20 honorees named every year. I was however named to the Florida All-Academic Team. This was by far the most significant thing I had ever accomplished in my life.
It was also in this semester that I was taking Chemistry II honors. Part of the class curriculum was to conduct a service learning project and present it at a school showcase (like a science fair) in which all the other science honors courses would be competing in. Somehow I managed to win first place. I fathomed at the results and felt honored at the same time. Eventually, I graduated from the Honors Institute program with high honors.
When I was accepted to the University of Florida’s aerospace engineering program I was speechless. After six years of fighting to prove I wasn’t what a piece of paper said I was, a convict, I finally had proof.
The course load for my major has proven to be more challenging than I ever could have imagined. It requires I study and apply myself to school before anything else in my life.
This past year I had my identity stolen, someone filed taxes under my name. Due to this I have been delayed in receiving my tax return, which was supposed to pay for my summer classes. I also can’t pull out any loans, which were going to be used to pay for my summer rent. I am two month past due on rent and I still owe thousand dollars for my summer classes, due Aug 3rd, with another month of rent due on the first. I recently got a job but I am to far behind to catch up. The past seven years have been dedicated to putting my life back together, and now it’s all being threatened to be taken away. For those that know me day to day, they know I hate asking for any kind of handout, but I feel I've exhausted all my remedies. I am reaching out to you in my time of greatest need. If you can find it in your heart to donate even five dollars, you would be helping someone who has made their dreams as their goals.
It’s as I said in the beginning, my birth foreshadowed the struggles I would have in life. Through these experiences, I have learned that although others influence us, our choices are our own. I also realized the value of family, and that I do not want to spend life without them. By being faced with obstacles, I have found that I like doing what people say can’t be done. Furthermore, I found out the most important thing about myself, that I like helping others. I have discovered it is important to have good character, and that I have only just begun to self-actualize my full potential. I understand not everyone can contribute to my cause. I also understand some people will read this and still judge me for my past. If you take anything away from my story, I only ask that you realize people can change at any given time. That you don’t judge a person based on the results of their actions, but on the decisions they make towards their future.
No one knew when I was born not breathing with an umbilical cord wrapped around my neck three times, how that event foreshadowed the rest of my life. From the second I came into this world the odds have been stacked against me.
In my youth, my mother stayed at home raising my three sisters and me, while my father would come home from one job, only to get ready to leave for another. While I was in the fifth grade, my mother filed a restraining order against my father, and as a result, they separated for a year. At this time, I started getting in all sorts of trouble at school, and rebelling against my parents. By the time I was sixteen, I was hanging out with the wrong crowd in school. I began experimenting with drugs and developed an addiction to prescription medication that quickly spiraled out of control. Five months out of high school, after barely graduating, I got in trouble with the law and found myself sitting in a jail cell.
The state penitentiary became my home for the next four years. Before, during, and after I went to prison, I was told repeatedly that I would never amount to anything, that the only thing I would be successful at was attaining a trip back to the penitentiary. I almost began to doubt myself and believe everything I heard. Over time however, through perseverance and determination, I taught myself to let these constant belittlements serve as my motivation to achieve.
Upon being released, in November 2007, I worked various jobs, two full time and one part time. Although I had a record, I was always a hard and diligent worker. A year later I started working as a waiter at a fine dining waterfront restaurant. At my ninety day review, the general manager told me he loved my work ethic and if I was still there in two years he would like for me to enter their M.I.T (manager in training) program. After doing this for a year, I began to think of my dad and how hard he worked to support us when I was growing up. I realized it was me breaking my back to make ends meet now, only I was just supporting myself. Furthermore I had the opportunity to converse with clientele, most of which had attended college and had a career rather than a job, whose upbringing and outlook on life was vastly different from my own. Being a recently released convict and looking for a way to turn my life around, I was truly inspired. I was impressed not by their lavish lifestyles, but rather by whom they were, well rounded individuals. I wanted to be able to set and accomplish goals. I wanted more for myself out of life. As I aspired to be the best version of me, I knew college would not only give me a way to attain this in life, but that it was my only means to show that I really can turn my life around.
Come January 2010 I took my first two college courses at the local community college, remedial elementary algebra and English. I treated school like I did my jobs, my professors like my bosses. After the summer of 2011, I received an email from the Honors Institute program at my school telling me I was eligible for enrollment due to my high G.P.A. By accident, I ended up going to the honors society chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, to inquire how I could enroll. It was the best mistake I ever made. I became a member of both the program and the society.
I instantly connected with the society’s chapter president. She encouraged me to become an active member and to check out a few of the other clubs she was involved in. I got involved with the Brain Bowl club, it’s a 4 vs.4 college style jeopardy tournament, in which members would compete against other schools throughout the state. To make a long story short, I eventually was named captain of the team. I also worked my way to becoming the society’s chapter’s Vice President of Leadership, Service, and Communications. During this time I had doors opened to me I never imagined would exist for someone of my status. I became a tutor to the intercollegiate athletics teams and accumulated 284 hours of volunteer service.
All this was accomplished while still maintaining a full time job where I had been promoted to Lead Front of House Trainer. This meant from the day you stated working at my restaurant I was responsible for overseeing the coaching, mentoring, and training of all new servers and bartenders regarding menu items, company policies and procedures.
In my last semester at the community college, spring 2013, while applying to schools to transfer to, my honors society advisor approached me and said he would like to make me one of his two nominations to compete for the USA Today All-Academic team. This truly humbled me. I never in a million years imagined someone like a college professor would think of me in that way. Needless to say I applied. Unfortunately, I wasn’t named to the All USA team, there are only 20 honorees named every year. I was however named to the Florida All-Academic Team. This was by far the most significant thing I had ever accomplished in my life.
It was also in this semester that I was taking Chemistry II honors. Part of the class curriculum was to conduct a service learning project and present it at a school showcase (like a science fair) in which all the other science honors courses would be competing in. Somehow I managed to win first place. I fathomed at the results and felt honored at the same time. Eventually, I graduated from the Honors Institute program with high honors.
When I was accepted to the University of Florida’s aerospace engineering program I was speechless. After six years of fighting to prove I wasn’t what a piece of paper said I was, a convict, I finally had proof.
The course load for my major has proven to be more challenging than I ever could have imagined. It requires I study and apply myself to school before anything else in my life.
This past year I had my identity stolen, someone filed taxes under my name. Due to this I have been delayed in receiving my tax return, which was supposed to pay for my summer classes. I also can’t pull out any loans, which were going to be used to pay for my summer rent. I am two month past due on rent and I still owe thousand dollars for my summer classes, due Aug 3rd, with another month of rent due on the first. I recently got a job but I am to far behind to catch up. The past seven years have been dedicated to putting my life back together, and now it’s all being threatened to be taken away. For those that know me day to day, they know I hate asking for any kind of handout, but I feel I've exhausted all my remedies. I am reaching out to you in my time of greatest need. If you can find it in your heart to donate even five dollars, you would be helping someone who has made their dreams as their goals.
It’s as I said in the beginning, my birth foreshadowed the struggles I would have in life. Through these experiences, I have learned that although others influence us, our choices are our own. I also realized the value of family, and that I do not want to spend life without them. By being faced with obstacles, I have found that I like doing what people say can’t be done. Furthermore, I found out the most important thing about myself, that I like helping others. I have discovered it is important to have good character, and that I have only just begun to self-actualize my full potential. I understand not everyone can contribute to my cause. I also understand some people will read this and still judge me for my past. If you take anything away from my story, I only ask that you realize people can change at any given time. That you don’t judge a person based on the results of their actions, but on the decisions they make towards their future.
Organizer
Jeffrey Morris
Organizer
Gainesville, FL
