BY MIKE TAYLOR
Graduate Joe Louis (Photo Courtesy: Mike Taylor)
Walnut – All together, Joe Louis spent a year in jail. As a gangbanger, he had been shot at, almost stabbed, and incarcerated with killers and gangsters. But nothing, he says, was scarier than his English and statistics classes at Mt. San Antonio College.
“All of that lifestyle paled in comparison to the fear I had of coming to school,” said Louis, who graduated Fri., June 13, as part of Mt. SAC’s Class of 2014 with an Associate’s Degree in Social Behavioral Sciences. “Everything I knew in gang life didn’t apply here. It was so scary because it was completely different from what I was used to,” he said.
Walking at graduation seems worlds away from where Louis began. He joined a gang in South Gate when he was 13 years old. He was in the 10th Grade for three years, and when he was supposed to graduating from high school in 2004, he was in a hotel room doing methamphetamine.
He ended up attending 11 different schools during childhood and adolescence, and would use the money his mother gave him for drugs. Within time, he became addicted. He was eventually incarcerated on gun possession charges and landed in the L.A. County Men’s Central Jail for a total of 12 months.
“Going to jail is easy because you don’t have to do anything. You just have to react,” he said. “But in college you have to perform and do what is expected of you.”
Finally, Louis got into a 12-Step addiction program and received help from a treatment center on an outpatient basis. Friends told him that Mt. SAC was a good school. He enrolled in 2006, but dropped out after two semesters only to return in 2012.
“I was afraid of all the math and English I would have to do. It seemed so daunting,” said Louis.
With help from faculty and the staff of student support programs at the college, he was able to overcome his fear, acclimate to college life, and do well in his classes.
“Talking to faculty and staff in programs like the English department and ACES support program and hearing their stories encouraged me and made me think this is possible,” he added.
Now, the 29-year old La Puente resident is on the fast track as far as his education is concerned. Less than two weeks after he graduates from Mt. SAC, Louis will begin classes at Cal State L.A. en route to a Bachelor’s Degree in Rehabilitation Services. But the train doesn’t stop there. Louis wants to go on to earn his Master’s and Doctorate degrees, and eventually wants to become a counselor in either an educational or rehabilitation setting.
“I want to help those who are where I once was to give them hope and encouragement,” he said.
Joe Louis knows the past is the past. He can’t change it, but he can change his future.
“Now, I’m doing things that I can be proud of,” he said.
