May 7, 2024 • 49 mins
Welcome to the first episode of Real Talk. In this thought-provoking conversation, we highlight the moving stories of five fearless individuals. Each shares their own inspiring journey of transformation and resilience. Brought to you as a remarkable closing event for Second Chance Month, we aim to empower, inspire, and highlight the profound impact education can have in personal growth and reconciliation.
Janice Charles, the 2024 Inspiring Woman of Mt. SAC, takes the floor as our first speaker. She shares the transformative story of her journey from a 25 year sentence to obtaining a degree in drug and alcohol counselling. Following Janice, hear the riveting tale of Eric Guevara-Rivas, who rebuilt his life and embarked on an educational journey after parole.
In this stirring episode, we also introduce you to Anthony Orenas and Timeoteo Benitez, both part of the Rising Scholars community. Hear their incredible stories of how they used their past struggles as a force to uplift their own lives and those of others.
We then delve into the stories of individuals indirectly impacted by the justice system. The narrative also sheds light on the power of education and community to transform lives, featuring the inspiring journey of Victor Sierra, a proud military veteran who found hope and purpose through education.
Join us in this inspiring episode of Real Talk as we learn about these extraordinary journeys of resilience and the life-changing power of education. Each narrative sends a powerful message of hope that it's never too late for personal growth and transformation.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the first ever Real Talk.
This is going to be our closing event for Second Chance Month.
So it's a real big event where we're going to highlight five students that are
going to share their resilience throughout education.
Their leadership was impeccable to the point where these are the students that
we actually reached out to to participate in this first ever event that we're having.
(00:21):
And it's also just a space to empower them, to let them know that we see them
on campus and we know that they're here and they're making moves.
So with that being said, my name is Precious Padilla. I am the Program Specialist for Rising Scholars.
This idea actually came to me from watching TED Talks. So if you have any idea
about TED Talks, it's an opportunity to talk about issues that are often not
(00:42):
talked about or even just diving deeper into issues that are there and apparent. parent.
So what I wanted to use our Real Talk as is in a place of, again, empowerment.
So when I call up the students, if we can all just give them the respect of
time, silence, and also if we can turn off our phones or put them on mute so
that they have our 100% attention.
(01:02):
And with that being said, we have our amazing photographer in the back,
Aaron, who is going to be recording this.
So if the students are comfortable, we are going to post this to YouTube.
So again, if we can, you know, have a little bit of silence so that we can make
Aaron's job a lot more easier. year.
With that being said, it's my pleasure to call the first speaker for Real Talks.
She is the 2024 Inspiring Woman of Mt. SAC.
(01:26):
She is a mother, a grandmother, a scholar.
She is also a sponsor, and she is Janice Charles.
And with that being said, I would love to welcome you to the floor. Woo!
Hello, family. My name is Janice.
I'm here to share my experience, strength, and hope with you.
(01:46):
And I wouldn't say my experience, strength, and hope as an addict.
My experience, strength, and hope as a student.
As you look at me today, peer mentor, a student, struggling to get this associate
degree in drug and alcohol counseling.
But three years ago, I was sitting in the San Fernando court,
(02:08):
facing 25 to life, hopeless.
But see, I have a power that I choose to call my God. And there's no more God
in me than it is in anybody that's sitting here in these rooms.
And he was orchestrating things in my life way back then. And I had no idea, no clue.
My experience with facing that amount of jail time made me start opening my eyes.
(02:34):
You know, it's not about when you start.
It's about It's not even about how you run the race. It's not even about when
you finish. It's about how you run the race.
And in this journey in education, I have learned principles, morals, standards.
But the most thing that really gets me is integrity.
(02:56):
And that's doing something where I don't expect anybody to notice or to see.
I do it because I know that's the right thing to do today.
My experience in coming back to school, my first thing I had to do was learn how to manage my time.
I had to learn how, because not as Precious said, I'm a mother,
(03:16):
I'm a grandmother, I'm a daughter.
I wear a lot of titles, but I also have a son who is a product of my addiction.
That's 28 years old that never walked a day in his life. So that's my inspiration.
That right there is my drive. I get to be a mother now.
I get to go to classes that teaches me how to be a mother.
(03:39):
I get to go to meetings that's designed to give me a way of living because for so long, I was hopeless.
You know, I was a good follower, but I was a strong leader, all for the wrong reasons.
So upon coming back to Mt.
SAC and really and truly, I want to tell you, I was scared as hell. I was like, I cannot.
(04:04):
First of all, while I don't know nothing about computers, I could barely keep a phone.
So I really didn't know anything about computers and everything is so digital world, you know?
So I had to walk through, my experience was I had to walk through some fears
and see fear will keep us stuck.
That's where we challenge our core beliefs. We challenge our values,
(04:29):
our morals, our principles.
We challenged those things because when you really challenge those things,
you find out those were not your morals. Those were not your standards.
Those are things that were impressed upon you, just like God was impressed upon you.
Just like in certain cultures, what happens in this house stays in this house.
(04:52):
In some cultures, we're just like crabs in a bucket.
If one tried to get up, the next one is pulling them down. So how do we break those cycles?
How do we break those vicious cycles?
And just like I said, it's not where you start or where you finish.
It's how you run the race.
So when I got here, I was introduced to Rising Scholars.
(05:16):
And like I said, fear. I didn't want to tell nobody I'm this age and I don't
know how to use a computer. I don't know how to do this.
But I'm good. I'm a good actor. So I had to drop that at.
That was the most important thing in my road to education is to drop those acts.
If you don't know, there's nothing wrong with asking for help.
(05:39):
That's why a lot of us, I'll keep this on me. A lot of, I stayed stuck for so
long because I didn't know how to ask for help.
First of all, I didn't know what I needed help in because I had no goals. I had no aspirations.
My legacy was I was going to die a drug addict, but that didn't happen.
So when I came to school, there were some challenges. You know, I was in a sober living.
(06:03):
There was only certain things I could do. But those challenges didn't stop me
from getting my education.
Like some of my peers that's going
to come here and tell you we lived in rising scholars
office you know we was there when the door opened and we was there when the
door closed we became a team we became a family even though mike sack is our
(06:25):
community rising scholars is our community within a community where we people
that usually wouldn't mix together together, come together,
because in the rooms, it'll say, well, I would have never smoked dope with him.
Oh, shoot, I would have never slept with him, but if he had any money,
he had any dope, I would have.
So in these rooms, I'm not afraid
(06:47):
to say, Timotel, how do you feel this out? How do you feel this out?
I utilize the sources and the resources that's on this campus.
Not being and afraid, even though the inside might be bubbling, like, I can't do this.
How do you come here with all this fear and you become the most inspiring woman at 24?
(07:07):
How do you come here and you become a legacy award winner?
The only legacy I ever thought I was going to leave is that she died at O.P.
But now, now my hope. What hope is, is hope is reaching for something that you
can't see and hoping that knowing that you're going to receive it.
(07:29):
And if you stay on the path, you're going to have some storms.
That's why we like that tree. We blow, we bend, we rock, we might split the
sidewalk, but we don't break.
And see, another word is we like to say effort.
We get a real good case of the efforts, you know, because that's that fear saying,
(07:51):
I don't want anybody to know that I'm a failure.
But how will you know you succeeded if you didn't fail in something?
There's some things that you're just not going to get. But then you got a supportive
community and rising scholars.
And at At Monsac, you got resources that will help you overcome your disabilities.
(08:12):
And my hope to you is don't be a disabled disability to yourself.
Don't let this thing between your head tell you you can't do what you can do.
You never know what doors it's going to open because there's been many doors
that have been closed in us getting here.
There's going to be many more doors closed because just because you come to
(08:33):
school and you're on the right track, don't mean life ain't going to show up.
It's what you do when life show up. Do you continue to persevere?
Do you depend on a power greater than you? Or do you depend on your mind?
Because your best thinking got you in positions and situations that you didn't want to be in.
So if I can leave you with anything as far as hope is concerned,
(08:59):
I'll say, look inside of you and look at that little girl or that little boy
and think of what you hope they might have been.
And let that be a challenge in you to nourish that little one,
to love that little one like you never loved anything before.
And in the end results, you'll see a rose or you might even see a tree grow from a stump.
(09:22):
My name is Janice. Thank you. Thank you, Janice.
Okay, now we got our second speaker coming up. I am excited to bring to the
stage Eric Guevara-Rivas, which is a scholar of ours that he's actually entering
his second year coming up very soon.
I'm proud to bring Eric to the stage because he's somebody that came to us when
(09:44):
we were in IB, was nervous to what we were throwing him into when he was here with his mentor.
I'm interested in the process and has really been somebody that has stepped
into the process unknowingly without fear.
And I hope you know we see you, Eric. And with that being said,
I'm proud to bring forward Father, Scholar, and also the person that is keeping
(10:04):
together our community garden.
If you don't know, we have a community garden across the street that REACH has.
So also someone that's keeping the Mt. SAC campus running.
So with that being said, I proudly invite Eric Guevara-Rivas to the stage.
It all started in November 2021 when I discharged from parole.
I thought to myself, there has to be more to life than this and be on parole or incarceration.
(10:30):
I just didn't know what it was.
So God put certain people in my life to follow a new path in education.
When I was growing up, I didn't put too much interest in education.
I was individually incarcerated for the majority of my life.
But certain circumstances led me to seeking God.
(10:51):
And there I met my friend, Mentor.
As I share my story with you, you're going to see an act of kindness when someone
reached out to a person to better his life.
I'm speaking to personal experience, how God puts people in your life for a certain purpose.
This involves giving up old living habits, gaining a new sense of direction,
(11:13):
and pursuing a goal in education.
Today, I want to share how education impacted me, a person who's been incarcerated,
and my journey as a scholar.
As I stand here, first I'm going to discuss how I was before education came
into my life, then how seeking God led me to education, lastly how I keep myself
(11:35):
motivated in pursuing education.
Before education was in my life, my study was the streets.
That was my education. This led me to being in and out of prison all my life since my last years.
So I never had the opportunity to give education a fair chance in growing up.
Education was not an option for me. As I'm telling you this,
(11:58):
you might be wondering, how can I let this guy in the school?
But that was how I was before education was in my life.
Next, I'm going to, as I'm telling you, so let's talk about how the beginning was before education.
The way I was doing my own life left no space for education.
Before I came to Mt. SAC, I was involved with drugs and gangs.
(12:19):
It was an environment that I was accustomed to living on a day-to-day basis.
I'll call this gang infested area my home, my comfort zone.
It was a place, it was a normal thing for me to do growing up in the barrio.
I thought this was the way it should be in a day-to-day life.
Then I happened to walk into a church for seeking for something for a higher purpose.
(12:43):
I was battling with an internal battle at that time. I was applying to kill the mother of my kids.
So I seek God to give me patience and guidance in this.
In that direction, I was attending the Spanish side of the church.
They introduced me to my preacher mentor, Mark Anthony.
I met Mark My first initial thought Mark was Man This guy's an undercover cop,
(13:09):
Plus he's black Oh for sure He's an undercover cop,
They're trying to get me for sure now, you know? But there's this man right
here being nice to me, actually taking an interest in me.
He was trying to show me the word of God. At the same time, putting himself
at risk, not knowing where I was mentally.
He wanted to show me the word of God, how I could put God as my moral compass in my life if I let it.
(13:34):
When I found out what direction I wanted to take in my education,
Mark was the first initial person and encouraged me to go to college.
He brought me to Mt. SAC. I instantly fell in love with the farm.
I found that inner peace in the fields, just like that, and my Mt. SAC journey began.
(13:55):
Even though I took the first steps in pursuing education, this doesn't mean
my journey didn't come with challenges.
In the last couple of minutes, how I overcame self-doubts started to call this place my new home.
My transition from Mt. SAC, from the streets, was different for me.
(14:15):
I wasn't used to coming to school.
It was just a different environment for me.
You know, in the beginning, for me, it was nervousness. Like,
I felt like dropping out many times.
Like, for example, my first semester at Mt. SAC in the summer,
I had a lot of self-doubt and imposter syndrome because I hadn't been in school for so long.
(14:37):
I didn't know if it was the wisest decision on my part to come back to school.
Since I was older and doing homework at a college level. Was discouraging at times.
To a point where sometimes I wanted to quit.
But I didn't let the insecurities discourage me. Because I was a different man now.
I had a purpose, a goal, I had in my life before.
(14:58):
And most importantly, I had to show my kids different. I had to show that I
could be an example for them.
That's what kept me motivated in pursuing education.
I had to show them that a person that made so many mistakes in life could switch
it around, no matter how many times they messed up in life.
So I had to keep on going and pursuing. That was my motivation in coming.
(15:19):
Mount SAC became my sanctuary on the streets.
It opened my eyes to a joy of learning, making education surprisingly a hobby.
Discovering supportive community, like-minded people fueled with desire,
hungry, angry like myself.
And that's when I joined the Rising Scholars Program.
We were all driven, hungry to succeed.
(15:40):
And that's what kept me going. Their energy kept me going.
It motivated me that we all want to get together, you know?
So I want to tell people about our program.
We can switch it up anytime we want, anytime. It just takes us to take those
proper steps in pursuing it.
(16:02):
You just need a little push and be surrounded by good people and just take the
proper steps in doing it.
Now that you've heard my story, let's begin to wrap this up.
First, I discussed how I was before education was in my life.
Then I talked about how seeking God led me to education.
And lastly, I talked how I kept myself motivated throughout my school time.
(16:22):
Just know the bad decision you made in life Doesn't have to be the decision
you live with With efforts and wanting different in life And actually taking your first steps,
No matter how small you're going Or where you want to be Sets you on a powerful
path in the future You just got to keep on going and keep pushing And don't
(16:43):
give up Just keep having faith and keep on going Thank you.
Look at y'all y'all are nervous and y'all are doing great that really made me proud,
okay so with that being said i want to welcome the next person to come up and
this person he's actually been with us since our old building which was 9e which
(17:05):
is really crazy to say because if you know rising scholars we've moved three
times and hopefully this third time is our last But with that being said,
it is a pleasure to welcome our tutor,
2022 scholarship recipient.
Also, he was a part of the speech and debate team last year as well.
And also just a real strong advocate for his peers.
(17:26):
Every day when I see him interacting with them, coming and trying to connect
them to resources and get them the support that he had access to.
So with that being said, I am excited to welcome Anthony Orenas to the stage. Thank you.
Not right there all right just good
afternoon man hey so someone
(17:48):
is having renascent this is second chance
second chance second chance man i heard second
chance and i'm like dick i have one
too many second chances i have
about a million stories of second chance so i
see i like i i heard this topic like i see
on the fire and i'm like wow and then all of
(18:09):
a sudden i get this email mail from rising stars i can't
even be interested i'm like thank you so
um yeah thank you for uh asking me
to come out so trying to
think does anyone know like the
feeling of being stuck between a rock and a hard place you know so uh you know
(18:29):
it was like about four or five years ago that you know i was stuck between a
rock and a hard place and this is what it looked like for me So it got to a
point before I was able to get a chance to come back to school where.
Didn't want to die but i sure as
heck didn't want to live you know and the
main reason behind that was because i just didn't know
(18:51):
how to stop using heroin you know i heard about oh like my family telling me
why don't you just stop and then i would hear like people rarely say well why
don't you just stop and you know i felt completely powerless because i just
didn't know how and as As a result of me not knowing how,
right, and a little bit of the past, me being formally incarcerated,
(19:13):
I knew that I felt safe and protected when I was busted.
That was the safe place. So I figured, you know what, I think it's okay for
me to take any means necessary to break the law to get that fixed.
So what ended up happening was I just started committing more and more crimes
because I just knew that if I got arrested, I would be safe.
(19:36):
And I really like, I just feel like I can totally resonate with that.
And, you know, I talked to a brother before this and I came to the realization
that I think this was maybe like 30 minutes ago.
But I was really crying and asking for help. And I just didn't know how.
Right. I had no idea how. You know, I was so used to this unmanageability.
(19:57):
So, you know, what happened for me is, you know, I got to get introduced to
the program of recovery.
Right. The program of recovery. and you know what uh that allowed me to change
my perception of life and it helped me realize that hey you know i'm a person
too and all these things that i did in my path isn't defining me right and all
these um you know all these unresolved issues in my life they could be corrected,
(20:21):
you know and i was able to meet this group of people that
they had this happiness that i couldn't even describe whenever i'm
here running they're like looking and smiling and laughing
i'm just like what like i don't want that you know
so you know my iron power my iron power
you know pushed me in that direction and i took that action and
as a result taking that action i was able to build just
(20:43):
a little a little confidence you know just a tiny bit to have this idea like
you know what i'm gonna roll back in school you know i had all these fears and
as a result doing these things because people ask me you know i'm like you know
maybe i tried this out and what's What's wild is I feel like I tell the story
so much, but I'm going to go ahead and share this again. Right.
So, you know, I took that step and in full fear, but I still did it. Right.
(21:07):
Cause someone told me just still do it, take that contrary action.
So I did it and I received this call and it was this call was from rising scholars.
I had no idea what rising scholars was, but.
Guy called me and he's like hey are you anthony arenas
and like um this is like the first month i
had a phone coming back to life after getting
you know entered recovery and i'm like oh shoot like what's going on and he's
(21:32):
like oh no my name is sammy i'm from rhizosaurus at melonside and just that
whole label i was like like i just wasn't familiar with any of that like oh we
realize that you're formally incarcerated and automatically in my
head i was like man i knew i knew i wasn't allowed
to go to school like i knew they were gonna find out who
(21:53):
i was but you know he said hey we have a program that's specifically designed
for you and it was so obvious that i answered that phone call sitting at like
a dinner table it was like around three and my mom was sitting right across
from me and it was on speaker and we looked at each other and i looked and i was It was like, God?
And it was really neat that she was able to experience that with me.
(22:17):
I'm like, yeah. And we actually made an appointment. I think the wild thing
is when I made that appointment, I came.
So I see people that look like me a little bit, but I was still like a little
timid. You know, I was still timid.
But I realized that, you know, I was able to get set up with an entire ring
of people that been through what I've been through.
(22:37):
Maybe not exactly what I've been through, but similar. you
know simpler circumstances and they just
embraced me and i think that opened my door
to education right and uh that opened
my door to education but that first semester i was one of those students that
i went in for my books right because i i wasn't even comfortable with myself
talking you know i went in for my book voucher and i went to class and i got
(23:01):
my good grade but like i i maybe still didn't feel like i had to bring to the
table and then like you know the team continue reaching out.
Hey man, like we have this space coming out with us.
And then I'm like, Oh really? Like, I know, I guess I just, I wasn't open-minded that like.
Helpful this program was beside just the books because i
(23:22):
felt like rising stars is my life now and i
don't i never thought that that would be the case
any program in a college would be a part of me you know what i mean and uh so
what happened was it was a process of the soul process once i got into rising
stars i realized that the group as a whole that i belong to like we operate
(23:44):
the The same way that we operate on the streets,
but now we're doing it at a school setting.
And like that fires me up because I know that like when I go to different places
on campus, I see other people.
And it is fires me up like, you know, I know that I'm doing exactly what I need to do.
Really like being being serious about my education.
You know, so I think the thing is like really once I got to talk to Joe,
(24:09):
right. And, and, and hear him and hear like what he's been through and like
say, Hey, like you could do it too.
And then I got to talk to Timoteo, Janice, the whole crew. Right.
And the support from Precious is just like epic for me because.
We're in these classes regardless if we're a part
of rising scholars we feel these pressures and like
(24:30):
just to those little day-to-day little commas like hey
what's up how you doing has totally like has totally
like this needs that next level so we're now i know
like i made a decision that um even when i transfer since
i haven't been traveling i'm still going to be working for right you
and it's like dang like how well
is that i've never thought that that'd be that would be
(24:51):
the case for me and you know ultimately I found
a home here you know I found a home and you
know I know that if I put one foot in front of
the other right and maintain working my
program right which consists of a higher power along with a thousand other things
like I'm gonna be okay so that's all I got thanks awesome y'all I love that
(25:18):
speech because even when talking about finding that place on campus.
I just want to reassure everybody that there is a space on campus for everybody.
At some point, you find it. It might not be up from the jump,
but you do find a space that welcomes you where you can go, you can study,
you can find your friends, and you can ultimately feel that empowerment to keep
pushing yourself to go beyond your wildest dreams.
(25:39):
And it's crazy because who would have thought, y'all, that we'd be in the biggest auditorium that Mt.
SAC has, being able to share your experiences and
empower one another to know that you're more than capable of achieving
what we thought what we would like the minimum of
it you feel me man with that being said I
got myself a little choked up with that being said I'm really excited
to welcome our fourth speaker of today he
(26:02):
is a husband he's a father he's a peer mentor he is Timoteo Benitez who is also
another person that I vividly remember in our 9e space when he was bringing
in his friends encouraging them to join the program and encouraging them to
come and study as Anthony that he mentioned,
he had, Timoteo was that person that really pushed somebody to come into the
(26:23):
office and talk to somebody when they needed something.
When I look at Timoteo, I see a really strong leader that has really persevered
through a lot within his time at Mt. SAC.
And I'm really excited for him to be able to share his story and share some
words of encouragement with y'all.
So with that being said, I welcome Timoteo Benitez to the stage.
(26:43):
All right. Let's go. Let's do this. Hello, hello.
Hello. Yep. You see it? It's teeny. Hello. All right.
Hello, family and loved ones. My name is Timoteo, and I'm just very grateful
and thankful that I'm here today to share my experience, strength, and love.
(27:07):
So at a very young age, I grew up in a lifestyle of gang violence and drug addiction.
I remember growing up at a young age, my household was getting shot at where
I wasn't able to walk to school and back because my family was so gang-related.
My mom and all my tilos and primos thought that they were going to get to me just to get to my mom.
(27:32):
Because my mom was that neighborhood mom, you know, in the barrio, you know.
The door's open to every gang member, every, you know, and I grew up. That's how I grew up.
I grew up at night. My house getting shot at where my mom literally told me
and my two younger brothers in the father's room in the back because she didn't
want us to get killed. I wasn't even able to play in my front yard.
(27:55):
Because that's all my lifestyle as a child growing up. That's all I do. That's all I saw.
I remember growing up, my whole house being partied. Finding syringes, finding pipes.
Seeing my cousins who drugs in front of me. So at a young age growing up,
that's all I saw. So that's all I knew life was about.
So at a very young age, age 13, I joined the gang.
(28:19):
I followed my mom's footsteps. steps, my dad's footsteps, all my uncles and cousins.
That year when I joined the gang, I got shot with a double barrel shotgun,
past the chest and the arm.
So from then on, that fear was all inside. So that's when I started carrying guns at a young age.
And from then on, I was like, you know what, age, you get me,
(28:40):
I'm going to get you before you get me.
So from the age of 13, and I'd say about two and a half years ago,
when I started to change my life, it's always been the shrieks.
I always been on drugs, I was drinking alcohol, in and out of prison,
the last 32 years of my life.
In and out, recycling door, I would get out, last a month, catch another four
(29:02):
or five-year term, get out, a month, do another two, three-year term,
it was just a revolving door.
So this last time, when I was out there in my addiction, I was homeless.
Under a bridge in a tank. I would go to every next farm I did,
go to every 7-Eleven, Panhandle, just to have a bottle.
I'd get my next fix until August 23rd of 22, where I had a federal overdose on fentanyl.
(29:31):
And I arrived at Twin Valley Hospital, DOA, didn't arrive at all. I had my heartbeat.
I don't remember. I can't say I remember anything, but by the grace of God, he brought me back.
So that day, I had to make a choice. And I thought, well, is this really going
(29:51):
to be me for the rest of my life?
Am I going to end up in prison for the rest of my life? Am I going to die and not come back again?
So like Anthony said, second chance. I got a second chance at life.
You know, I die. And when my brother got that phone call, and my little brother
(30:15):
got that phone call, my wife, everybody,
when they all picked me up from the hospital, when I got on the car, I felt the silence.
I felt it. And I was in the backseat, and the river, my older brother,
he kept looking back at me.
Didn't take his iPhone on the way home. And I kept looking at me and I felt shame, guilt.
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I felt low, low, low, low. I felt less of it.
That was the day I decided to really go to rehab, get clean, go to sober living.
And I remember when I was still on probation and I went to the probation office right here in Monaco.
(30:58):
And I barely got out of rehab. haven't. I think it was my last month on probation
and my PO was like, hey, you know what?
You don't qualify for the INVEST program because you're already,
I've seen your paperwork.
You're going to be on probation the next week.
And then she told me, she was like, what do you want to do? And then I was like,
man, I'll see if I'm going to school to become a drug and alcohol counselor.
(31:21):
And she goes, boom. Right there, Ratchet Scholars.
And that was the day I met Kevin. Kevin sat down, talked to me.
You know, I'm working in Trilogy Scholars.
You know, he was like, hey, bro, you know, tomorrow I'll come on campus.
You know, and I came on campus, and I met the team.
You know, at that time, we were in, like, the old building owned by...
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I walked in, I met Carlos, I met Rudy, now he's working too,
and all the good, good people there on the online network. I met precious, you know?
And from that day, when I stepped foot on campus, I never left it.
I was here every day, I was getting to all the programs, I was talking to people
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on campus about Rising Scholars, even on the streets about Rising Scholars,
bringing people over here in the school, I was fired up. I'm still fired up.
And, you know, I can't say, you know, life's been good, but it hasn't been perfect.
You know, it's been some struggles. You know, I had a lot of temptations,
but, you know, I just went away.
(32:32):
You know, when I first started school, I was just over living all the way to
school. I thought I ran out of fun.
You know, I got a gun pulled on me. and I was like man bro like no I don't bank
bro like I'm just trying to get to school you know like,
dude you know like like but those were the experiences like like that was a
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they were knocking on my door because he wanted me just to react and go back
to the streets like hey homie like come over down the street you know but,
I I knew where I wanted to be and I knew where I was and I ended up being my
life was better than that so I just want to say that.
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God tested my tested my life again March 28th,
my baby brother to offend all of those. And he didn't make it.
Well, the Wright Scholars family really showed up. They showed up.
Precious, Kevin, Eric, two other scholars. None of them showed up.
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Nobody else was here for me, you know?
And at that time, like, it didn't really hit me because, like,
I was strong for my family.
But now that I think about it, is you, we never know the blessings that you
got from life until it hits you close to home.
You know, and as me being, you know, I went to school to become a drug knockout
(34:02):
counselor, I just seen like, man, man, it hit that close, you know. I lost a lot of friends.
Because when it's your own loved one, your own little brother,
it really, really, it really tears, you know, I was going to leave a hole in my heart, you know.
And if it wasn't for my daughters or my friends, in writing scholars,
(34:23):
I think I would have gave up.
Like I think now I would have trained only back then to use,
but I leaned on writing scholars.
And like, when I was down, they picked me up. Like, come on,
bro. Like, you know, people calling me, check on me. What's up, you all right?
After you calling me, like, no, Eric, like Denise, like everything,
people were there for me.
(34:44):
And I seen her like, damn, these are real friends. This is a real family right
here, you know? You know, and so I don't let my past mistakes determine who I am today.
Because if it wasn't for me going through what I went through,
it wouldn't make me the man I am today.
No, I'm very grateful. I'm a father to my three-year-old daughter.
(35:08):
By the grace of God, she came back in my life. I'm a husband.
I'm an uncle to my next-year-old nephew.
And I'm a brother to the two brothers I got left.
And, as far as education, I'm on fire, man.
Like, in my last two semesters, I walked out the classes with nothing but A's.
(35:33):
You know what I mean? And I was very proud of myself.
Like, I was like, oh, for me, like, because who ever thought,
you know, like, who ever thought somebody like me would really,
really, really, like, walk out and have straight A's? She was like,
come on, run it into the ball.
Like, man, but I never gave myself the chance.
But today I do. No, I suit up, I show up. I'm always here.
(36:00):
I'm everybody out here. I don't know something. We're going to find out, believe me.
And I'm just very grateful that I have the honor and the privilege to be amongst you.
And I think another glory is going to open for my two friends, Janice and Janet.
(36:23):
We went to get a reliance scan. And that's another door that if God's with him
and God's ignored, it's going to open a door for me now to go back into camps.
Right? A place that I thought I never walked. But here too, but I can walk out
and help people out as well.
And it's just been a good journey. And that's our story. Thank you. Demondel, please.
(36:50):
Okay. I actually think this is a perfect opportunity to share this.
We do have our last speaker coming up, our last but not least speaker.
But with that being said, with everything y'all have been sharing,
it's just been something reoccurring on my mind. And Timoteo really solidified that.
I forget to share this a lot. If I'm being honest with you, and I'm trying to get better with it.
So I am indirectly system impacted, meaning that I have not been directly affected
by the criminal justice system. but I have indirectly impacted because of my
(37:14):
dad, my uncles, my cousins.
I can only say that two of the men in my family have not experienced incarceration out of the other ones.
And with that being said, I grew up hearing from my dad that he wasn't supposed
to be here. He was supposed to be dead.
Constantly told me that growing up. And I kept telling my dad,
no, you're meant to be here. There's a reason why you made it out. There's a reason.
I strongly believe there's a a reason to it. And I said this in the past.
(37:38):
I've said this at our Still We Rise ceremony this last Saturday,
but I really strongly believe there are no mistakes at Mt. SAC.
Y'all were meant to step on this campus and meet the friends y'all met.
Y'all were meant to come to this campus to make the change in your own family's
lives because you just being here is opening doors that is beyond on our own imagination.
(38:00):
And that's the crazy part, is because we simply trusted Mt. SAC,
we are where we are right now.
Because Mt. SAC is going to help you find who you are.
It's going to give you that door to explore different things that we never thought we would.
Going to meet new people that you never thought you'd interact with.
And with that being said, it really gives me a good segue into our last speaker,
(38:23):
Victor Sierra, who actually had a speech class with Eric Guevara.
And they're sitting in the speech class. Y'all didn't know each other,
if I'm correct. Didn't know each other.
Ended up finding each other. And that's where Eric was able to bring Victor
into the Rising Scholars space.
And that's where we met Victor, who is a proud veteran, who is a very supportive
partner from just conversations I've had with him, and is a really dedicated
(38:44):
scholar that is constantly trying to study, get other people involved,
connect with other students in our space.
And this is all within a semester and and a half of being in Rising Scholars.
So imagine what Victor is already going to do past this point.
So I'm really excited to welcome Victor Sierra to the stage,
our last but not least, final speaker.
(39:08):
Year, I was sitting in a dark Veterans of Foreign Wars bar.
I was drinking straight from a bottle, had a gun in my hand,
and I was contemplating suicide.
I served as a Marine with Special Operations Infantry Groups.
I lost 90% of my company to I.N.D.
Strikes, gunshots, and suicide. It's like, not only when I came back in that
(39:33):
bar and I got home, I had a real self-reflection with myself.
I asked myself, what scares you more than anything in this world?
I asked myself, what is it? Education does.
Education scares me more than death. It took me a long time to understand why
(39:53):
I think like that. because I would have never imagined that I would make it
as a scholar or be here as a student.
After all that time dealing with people telling me what to do with myself and
Marines telling me what to do, I got pulled back into a world of addiction.
I got pulled back into a place where I never would have seen myself again.
(40:17):
So today, I first want to share my experience with my education and my personal
life. And this is all after my military discharge, my medical military discharge.
Then I'll touch on my experience coming back to Mt. SAC.
And finally, the success I've had reintegrating back into education.
(40:42):
Reintegration back into education has been an overwhelming problem for the veteran community.
Veterans struggle with four main problems. problems
managing strong emotions lost sense
of purpose lack of faith and
mental illness I was released from the Marine Corps December 30th 2016 those
(41:06):
issues have affected my ability to pursue my education being unable to regulate
my emotions has affected my relationships relationships,
has affected my family relationships,
has ruined my marriage.
My PTSD still hasn't been resolved. I don't know if it ever will be,
(41:28):
but it keeps me from making those social connections that's required as a leader.
Ultimately, my inability to manage my emotions led to my divorce and landed
me to make decisions that put me into the incarceration system.
Now that I discussed my challenges after military service, let's discuss my
(41:52):
turning point moment that inspired me to come back to college.
Less than a year ago, I was contemplating suicide in the memory of a Marine, Corporal Michael J.
Dutcher, who I served with and still his memory keeps me alive.
We were sitting on a post in Afghanistan, like most Marines do, watch out for the enemy.
(42:16):
He would tell me, man, Victor, I'm so excited to go back to school when we get
back home. But he didn't make it back.
From that memory, I reluctantly went back to Mt. SAC and started in the summer of 2023.
I thought I could handle being a student without having any friends,
(42:38):
without being part of any clubs, or without using the resources or the programs
here at Mt. SAC. I was wrong.
And I found myself almost failing the first semester here.
Of education kept me from believing I belong here.
At a time when I needed the support the most, rising scholars found me.
(43:01):
They gave me a sense of purpose to overcome a big fear, which is education.
Now that I covered my experience coming back to Mt. SAC, let's discuss where
I stand now and my journey as a student here.
After the struggle I faced with mental health, sense of purpose,
and lack of faith, I currently find myself involved in student life.
(43:24):
I'm excelling in classes. I'm making a difference.
Currently, I'm pursuing a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling.
I'm working at the Veterans Resource Center.
I'm a member of the Male Minority Initiative and the president of the Student
Veterans of America Club.
I truly believe without the resources on campus and the inspiring mentors that
(43:50):
I met along the way, I would be back in that bar waiting for my life to end.
Today, I covered the challenges I faced first coming back to college after military life.
Then the turning point that inspired me to come back. And finally,
where I stand here as a student at Mt. SAC.
At the end of the day, if you're going to take one thing away from this speech,
(44:12):
is to understand that the life-changing resources here on campus can make a
difference if you let them.
You should ask yourself what difference you want to make for your family,
for other students here on campus, and more importantly, for yourself.
Because for me, my trauma and my pain are my motivators and drivers to continue
(44:36):
to inspire students, other veteran students, and incarcerated students. Thank you.
How do y'all feel? Yeah? Y'all feel good? I'm glad to hear that.
I want to, at this time, welcome James Juana to the stage. She's going to support
me with providing some token of appreciation to y'all.
(44:56):
So with that being said, it's about like two months ago, I think I messaged y'all, if I'm right.
Two months ago, I emailed the five lovely faces that came up and then also two
other students where hopefully I could convince them to do it next year after
seeing that their peers were able to do it.
But I'd emailed them and said, congratulations, you were selected for this event.
They trusted us with literally little to nothing to really see how this was going to go,
(45:18):
but they trusted us to come up here and share their story and share how education
has really been that turning point for them to spark hope and also pride in
what they stand for and doing every day.
With that being said, a little story. I used to come, me and Kevin used to have
a little back and forth because when I would send emails, I would say, what's up scholars?
And he's like, some people don't see themselves as scholars.
(45:39):
And I'm just like, well, if you're a rising scholars, you see yourself as a scholar.
And if you see, I've been a lot more of scholars, scholars, scholars,
and we've actually come up with a logo that is literally certified scholar.
When you graduate, that's something you receive.
Another thing you receive when you graduate because you push through and persevered
through a lot of different obstacles is you get this pin.
(46:00):
It's a Rising Scholars pin. A lot of the time, if you see it,
people ask, how do you get this? You only get this during graduation.
And then a few different events that when you push yourself out of your your
comfort zone we try to provide them to you so with that being said if i can
invite anthony timoteo janiece victor and eric to the stage james is go ahead clap y'all got this.
(46:20):
James is gonna pin y'all with the rising scholars pin for our token appreciation but also,
as a symbol as a time where you really push yourself past your fears so with
that being said i'll give james the pin and he'll pin them on each of the scholars
i already kind of took one off for you. Gotcha.
(46:43):
One and How do you deal with another woman? You're going to be a free man.
I got you. I've had it. She'll go to me. I've had it.
It's the gift. I'm going to hit the weekend.
I'm going to hit you. I'm going to hit you. james
is doing that i actually i hope y'all feel
no type of way me putting on the spot but we also did have two
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other scholars that were going to be up here today but just with life
and also different things going on with their classes they weren't
able to join us but we do have someone here as support that was supposed to join
us her name is Janet Cicero she's in the in the audience right now I was gonna
say the class but Janet is here and she is somebody that still went along the
process with them of showing up to the different practices we had show up in
(47:26):
the conversation and different group group chats that we had of trying to get
everybody out so I'd love to invite Janet so she can also receive her pin of appreciation.
(47:47):
And with that being said,
this actually does conclude the first ever Real Talk.
I will, I highly encourage if you were inspired or even just want to participate
(48:08):
in something like this next year, please reach out to these lovely six.
And then also Shante Jones, who also was a part of the original planning for this group.
And just know that all those, those can be really scary. And also just something
that's really out of our comfort zone.
We're more than capable of doing it. And this is also something where,
when I was really thinking about it, actually, I didn't share this story either,
(48:29):
is so one person that really pushed me to do this, and I don't know if he knows this, is Eric.
When Eric was doing a speech class, he would come in every single day to show
us his speech and practice his speech and just really try to have us connected
in what he was doing in his classes.
And one of his speeches was actually on solitary confinement.
And he talked about how isolation is damaging to the brain.
(48:51):
There's actual research that shows there is isolation plays a factor into harming the brain.
And when Eric was sharing that, I was thinking, well, damn, something like Real
Talk can be a space where we're bringing in community.
And what does community do? It sparks collaboration.
It sparks building a safe space so that you can push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
(49:13):
So that's ultimately the goal of what Real Talk is. And I hope it's something
that really puts its roots at Mt.
SAC so that we could continue inspiring students and pushing them to knowing
that they are more than capable of achieving believing anything they put their mind to.
With that being said, I want to thank you all for coming. If anybody wants to
add any closing remarks, the floor is open.
And with that being said, thank you again for joining us.
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the first ever Real Talk.
This is going to be our closing event for Second Chance Month.
So it's a real big event where we're going to highlight five students that are
going to share their resilience throughout education.
Their leadership was impeccable to the point where these are the students that
we actually reached out to to participate in this first ever event that we're having.
(00:21):
And it's also just a space to empower them, to let them know that we see them
on campus and we know that they're here and they're making moves.
So with that being said, my name is Precious Padilla. I am the Program Specialist for Rising Scholars.
This idea actually came to me from watching TED Talks. So if you have any idea
about TED Talks, it's an opportunity to talk about issues that are often not
(00:42):
talked about or even just diving deeper into issues that are there and apparent. parent.
So what I wanted to use our Real Talk as is in a place of, again, empowerment.
So when I call up the students, if we can all just give them the respect of
time, silence, and also if we can turn off our phones or put them on mute so
that they have our 100% attention.
(01:02):
And with that being said, we have our amazing photographer in the back,
Aaron, who is going to be recording this.
So if the students are comfortable, we are going to post this to YouTube.
So again, if we can, you know, have a little bit of silence so that we can make
Aaron's job a lot more easier. year.
With that being said, it's my pleasure to call the first speaker for Real Talks.
She is the 2024 Inspiring Woman of Mt. SAC.
(01:26):
She is a mother, a grandmother, a scholar.
She is also a sponsor, and she is Janice Charles.
And with that being said, I would love to welcome you to the floor. Woo!
Hello, family. My name is Janice.
I'm here to share my experience, strength, and hope with you.
(01:46):
And I wouldn't say my experience, strength, and hope as an addict.
My experience, strength, and hope as a student.
As you look at me today, peer mentor, a student, struggling to get this associate
degree in drug and alcohol counseling.
But three years ago, I was sitting in the San Fernando court,
(02:08):
facing 25 to life, hopeless.
But see, I have a power that I choose to call my God. And there's no more God
in me than it is in anybody that's sitting here in these rooms.
And he was orchestrating things in my life way back then. And I had no idea, no clue.
My experience with facing that amount of jail time made me start opening my eyes.
(02:34):
You know, it's not about when you start.
It's about It's not even about how you run the race. It's not even about when
you finish. It's about how you run the race.
And in this journey in education, I have learned principles, morals, standards.
But the most thing that really gets me is integrity.
(02:56):
And that's doing something where I don't expect anybody to notice or to see.
I do it because I know that's the right thing to do today.
My experience in coming back to school, my first thing I had to do was learn how to manage my time.
I had to learn how, because not as Precious said, I'm a mother,
(03:16):
I'm a grandmother, I'm a daughter.
I wear a lot of titles, but I also have a son who is a product of my addiction.
That's 28 years old that never walked a day in his life. So that's my inspiration.
That right there is my drive. I get to be a mother now.
I get to go to classes that teaches me how to be a mother.
(03:39):
I get to go to meetings that's designed to give me a way of living because for so long, I was hopeless.
You know, I was a good follower, but I was a strong leader, all for the wrong reasons.
So upon coming back to Mt.
SAC and really and truly, I want to tell you, I was scared as hell. I was like, I cannot.
(04:04):
First of all, while I don't know nothing about computers, I could barely keep a phone.
So I really didn't know anything about computers and everything is so digital world, you know?
So I had to walk through, my experience was I had to walk through some fears
and see fear will keep us stuck.
That's where we challenge our core beliefs. We challenge our values,
(04:29):
our morals, our principles.
We challenged those things because when you really challenge those things,
you find out those were not your morals. Those were not your standards.
Those are things that were impressed upon you, just like God was impressed upon you.
Just like in certain cultures, what happens in this house stays in this house.
(04:52):
In some cultures, we're just like crabs in a bucket.
If one tried to get up, the next one is pulling them down. So how do we break those cycles?
How do we break those vicious cycles?
And just like I said, it's not where you start or where you finish.
It's how you run the race.
So when I got here, I was introduced to Rising Scholars.
(05:16):
And like I said, fear. I didn't want to tell nobody I'm this age and I don't
know how to use a computer. I don't know how to do this.
But I'm good. I'm a good actor. So I had to drop that at.
That was the most important thing in my road to education is to drop those acts.
If you don't know, there's nothing wrong with asking for help.
(05:39):
That's why a lot of us, I'll keep this on me. A lot of, I stayed stuck for so
long because I didn't know how to ask for help.
First of all, I didn't know what I needed help in because I had no goals. I had no aspirations.
My legacy was I was going to die a drug addict, but that didn't happen.
So when I came to school, there were some challenges. You know, I was in a sober living.
(06:03):
There was only certain things I could do. But those challenges didn't stop me
from getting my education.
Like some of my peers that's going
to come here and tell you we lived in rising scholars
office you know we was there when the door opened and we was there when the
door closed we became a team we became a family even though mike sack is our
(06:25):
community rising scholars is our community within a community where we people
that usually wouldn't mix together together, come together,
because in the rooms, it'll say, well, I would have never smoked dope with him.
Oh, shoot, I would have never slept with him, but if he had any money,
he had any dope, I would have.
So in these rooms, I'm not afraid
(06:47):
to say, Timotel, how do you feel this out? How do you feel this out?
I utilize the sources and the resources that's on this campus.
Not being and afraid, even though the inside might be bubbling, like, I can't do this.
How do you come here with all this fear and you become the most inspiring woman at 24?
(07:07):
How do you come here and you become a legacy award winner?
The only legacy I ever thought I was going to leave is that she died at O.P.
But now, now my hope. What hope is, is hope is reaching for something that you
can't see and hoping that knowing that you're going to receive it.
(07:29):
And if you stay on the path, you're going to have some storms.
That's why we like that tree. We blow, we bend, we rock, we might split the
sidewalk, but we don't break.
And see, another word is we like to say effort.
We get a real good case of the efforts, you know, because that's that fear saying,
(07:51):
I don't want anybody to know that I'm a failure.
But how will you know you succeeded if you didn't fail in something?
There's some things that you're just not going to get. But then you got a supportive
community and rising scholars.
And at At Monsac, you got resources that will help you overcome your disabilities.
(08:12):
And my hope to you is don't be a disabled disability to yourself.
Don't let this thing between your head tell you you can't do what you can do.
You never know what doors it's going to open because there's been many doors
that have been closed in us getting here.
There's going to be many more doors closed because just because you come to
(08:33):
school and you're on the right track, don't mean life ain't going to show up.
It's what you do when life show up. Do you continue to persevere?
Do you depend on a power greater than you? Or do you depend on your mind?
Because your best thinking got you in positions and situations that you didn't want to be in.
So if I can leave you with anything as far as hope is concerned,
(08:59):
I'll say, look inside of you and look at that little girl or that little boy
and think of what you hope they might have been.
And let that be a challenge in you to nourish that little one,
to love that little one like you never loved anything before.
And in the end results, you'll see a rose or you might even see a tree grow from a stump.
(09:22):
My name is Janice. Thank you. Thank you, Janice.
Okay, now we got our second speaker coming up. I am excited to bring to the
stage Eric Guevara-Rivas, which is a scholar of ours that he's actually entering
his second year coming up very soon.
I'm proud to bring Eric to the stage because he's somebody that came to us when
(09:44):
we were in IB, was nervous to what we were throwing him into when he was here with his mentor.
I'm interested in the process and has really been somebody that has stepped
into the process unknowingly without fear.
And I hope you know we see you, Eric. And with that being said,
I'm proud to bring forward Father, Scholar, and also the person that is keeping
(10:04):
together our community garden.
If you don't know, we have a community garden across the street that REACH has.
So also someone that's keeping the Mt. SAC campus running.
So with that being said, I proudly invite Eric Guevara-Rivas to the stage.
It all started in November 2021 when I discharged from parole.
I thought to myself, there has to be more to life than this and be on parole or incarceration.
(10:30):
I just didn't know what it was.
So God put certain people in my life to follow a new path in education.
When I was growing up, I didn't put too much interest in education.
I was individually incarcerated for the majority of my life.
But certain circumstances led me to seeking God.
(10:51):
And there I met my friend, Mentor.
As I share my story with you, you're going to see an act of kindness when someone
reached out to a person to better his life.
I'm speaking to personal experience, how God puts people in your life for a certain purpose.
This involves giving up old living habits, gaining a new sense of direction,
(11:13):
and pursuing a goal in education.
Today, I want to share how education impacted me, a person who's been incarcerated,
and my journey as a scholar.
As I stand here, first I'm going to discuss how I was before education came
into my life, then how seeking God led me to education, lastly how I keep myself
(11:35):
motivated in pursuing education.
Before education was in my life, my study was the streets.
That was my education. This led me to being in and out of prison all my life since my last years.
So I never had the opportunity to give education a fair chance in growing up.
Education was not an option for me. As I'm telling you this,
(11:58):
you might be wondering, how can I let this guy in the school?
But that was how I was before education was in my life.
Next, I'm going to, as I'm telling you, so let's talk about how the beginning was before education.
The way I was doing my own life left no space for education.
Before I came to Mt. SAC, I was involved with drugs and gangs.
(12:19):
It was an environment that I was accustomed to living on a day-to-day basis.
I'll call this gang infested area my home, my comfort zone.
It was a place, it was a normal thing for me to do growing up in the barrio.
I thought this was the way it should be in a day-to-day life.
Then I happened to walk into a church for seeking for something for a higher purpose.
(12:43):
I was battling with an internal battle at that time. I was applying to kill the mother of my kids.
So I seek God to give me patience and guidance in this.
In that direction, I was attending the Spanish side of the church.
They introduced me to my preacher mentor, Mark Anthony.
I met Mark My first initial thought Mark was Man This guy's an undercover cop,
(13:09):
Plus he's black Oh for sure He's an undercover cop,
They're trying to get me for sure now, you know? But there's this man right
here being nice to me, actually taking an interest in me.
He was trying to show me the word of God. At the same time, putting himself
at risk, not knowing where I was mentally.
He wanted to show me the word of God, how I could put God as my moral compass in my life if I let it.
(13:34):
When I found out what direction I wanted to take in my education,
Mark was the first initial person and encouraged me to go to college.
He brought me to Mt. SAC. I instantly fell in love with the farm.
I found that inner peace in the fields, just like that, and my Mt. SAC journey began.
(13:55):
Even though I took the first steps in pursuing education, this doesn't mean
my journey didn't come with challenges.
In the last couple of minutes, how I overcame self-doubts started to call this place my new home.
My transition from Mt. SAC, from the streets, was different for me.
(14:15):
I wasn't used to coming to school.
It was just a different environment for me.
You know, in the beginning, for me, it was nervousness. Like,
I felt like dropping out many times.
Like, for example, my first semester at Mt. SAC in the summer,
I had a lot of self-doubt and imposter syndrome because I hadn't been in school for so long.
(14:37):
I didn't know if it was the wisest decision on my part to come back to school.
Since I was older and doing homework at a college level. Was discouraging at times.
To a point where sometimes I wanted to quit.
But I didn't let the insecurities discourage me. Because I was a different man now.
I had a purpose, a goal, I had in my life before.
(14:58):
And most importantly, I had to show my kids different. I had to show that I
could be an example for them.
That's what kept me motivated in pursuing education.
I had to show them that a person that made so many mistakes in life could switch
it around, no matter how many times they messed up in life.
So I had to keep on going and pursuing. That was my motivation in coming.
(15:19):
Mount SAC became my sanctuary on the streets.
It opened my eyes to a joy of learning, making education surprisingly a hobby.
Discovering supportive community, like-minded people fueled with desire,
hungry, angry like myself.
And that's when I joined the Rising Scholars Program.
We were all driven, hungry to succeed.
(15:40):
And that's what kept me going. Their energy kept me going.
It motivated me that we all want to get together, you know?
So I want to tell people about our program.
We can switch it up anytime we want, anytime. It just takes us to take those
proper steps in pursuing it.
(16:02):
You just need a little push and be surrounded by good people and just take the
proper steps in doing it.
Now that you've heard my story, let's begin to wrap this up.
First, I discussed how I was before education was in my life.
Then I talked about how seeking God led me to education.
And lastly, I talked how I kept myself motivated throughout my school time.
(16:22):
Just know the bad decision you made in life Doesn't have to be the decision
you live with With efforts and wanting different in life And actually taking your first steps,
No matter how small you're going Or where you want to be Sets you on a powerful
path in the future You just got to keep on going and keep pushing And don't
(16:43):
give up Just keep having faith and keep on going Thank you.
Look at y'all y'all are nervous and y'all are doing great that really made me proud,
okay so with that being said i want to welcome the next person to come up and
this person he's actually been with us since our old building which was 9e which
(17:05):
is really crazy to say because if you know rising scholars we've moved three
times and hopefully this third time is our last But with that being said,
it is a pleasure to welcome our tutor,
2022 scholarship recipient.
Also, he was a part of the speech and debate team last year as well.
And also just a real strong advocate for his peers.
(17:26):
Every day when I see him interacting with them, coming and trying to connect
them to resources and get them the support that he had access to.
So with that being said, I am excited to welcome Anthony Orenas to the stage. Thank you.
Not right there all right just good
afternoon man hey so someone
(17:48):
is having renascent this is second chance
second chance second chance man i heard second
chance and i'm like dick i have one
too many second chances i have
about a million stories of second chance so i
see i like i i heard this topic like i see
on the fire and i'm like wow and then all of
(18:09):
a sudden i get this email mail from rising stars i can't
even be interested i'm like thank you so
um yeah thank you for uh asking me
to come out so trying to
think does anyone know like the
feeling of being stuck between a rock and a hard place you know so uh you know
(18:29):
it was like about four or five years ago that you know i was stuck between a
rock and a hard place and this is what it looked like for me So it got to a
point before I was able to get a chance to come back to school where.
Didn't want to die but i sure as
heck didn't want to live you know and the
main reason behind that was because i just didn't know
(18:51):
how to stop using heroin you know i heard about oh like my family telling me
why don't you just stop and then i would hear like people rarely say well why
don't you just stop and you know i felt completely powerless because i just
didn't know how and as As a result of me not knowing how,
right, and a little bit of the past, me being formally incarcerated,
(19:13):
I knew that I felt safe and protected when I was busted.
That was the safe place. So I figured, you know what, I think it's okay for
me to take any means necessary to break the law to get that fixed.
So what ended up happening was I just started committing more and more crimes
because I just knew that if I got arrested, I would be safe.
(19:36):
And I really like, I just feel like I can totally resonate with that.
And, you know, I talked to a brother before this and I came to the realization
that I think this was maybe like 30 minutes ago.
But I was really crying and asking for help. And I just didn't know how.
Right. I had no idea how. You know, I was so used to this unmanageability.
(19:57):
So, you know, what happened for me is, you know, I got to get introduced to
the program of recovery.
Right. The program of recovery. and you know what uh that allowed me to change
my perception of life and it helped me realize that hey you know i'm a person
too and all these things that i did in my path isn't defining me right and all
these um you know all these unresolved issues in my life they could be corrected,
(20:21):
you know and i was able to meet this group of people that
they had this happiness that i couldn't even describe whenever i'm
here running they're like looking and smiling and laughing
i'm just like what like i don't want that you know
so you know my iron power my iron power
you know pushed me in that direction and i took that action and
as a result taking that action i was able to build just
(20:43):
a little a little confidence you know just a tiny bit to have this idea like
you know what i'm gonna roll back in school you know i had all these fears and
as a result doing these things because people ask me you know i'm like you know
maybe i tried this out and what's What's wild is I feel like I tell the story
so much, but I'm going to go ahead and share this again. Right.
So, you know, I took that step and in full fear, but I still did it. Right.
(21:07):
Cause someone told me just still do it, take that contrary action.
So I did it and I received this call and it was this call was from rising scholars.
I had no idea what rising scholars was, but.
Guy called me and he's like hey are you anthony arenas
and like um this is like the first month i
had a phone coming back to life after getting
you know entered recovery and i'm like oh shoot like what's going on and he's
(21:32):
like oh no my name is sammy i'm from rhizosaurus at melonside and just that
whole label i was like like i just wasn't familiar with any of that like oh we
realize that you're formally incarcerated and automatically in my
head i was like man i knew i knew i wasn't allowed
to go to school like i knew they were gonna find out who
(21:53):
i was but you know he said hey we have a program that's specifically designed
for you and it was so obvious that i answered that phone call sitting at like
a dinner table it was like around three and my mom was sitting right across
from me and it was on speaker and we looked at each other and i looked and i was It was like, God?
And it was really neat that she was able to experience that with me.
(22:17):
I'm like, yeah. And we actually made an appointment. I think the wild thing
is when I made that appointment, I came.
So I see people that look like me a little bit, but I was still like a little
timid. You know, I was still timid.
But I realized that, you know, I was able to get set up with an entire ring
of people that been through what I've been through.
(22:37):
Maybe not exactly what I've been through, but similar. you
know simpler circumstances and they just
embraced me and i think that opened my door
to education right and uh that opened
my door to education but that first semester i was one of those students that
i went in for my books right because i i wasn't even comfortable with myself
talking you know i went in for my book voucher and i went to class and i got
(23:01):
my good grade but like i i maybe still didn't feel like i had to bring to the
table and then like you know the team continue reaching out.
Hey man, like we have this space coming out with us.
And then I'm like, Oh really? Like, I know, I guess I just, I wasn't open-minded that like.
Helpful this program was beside just the books because i
(23:22):
felt like rising stars is my life now and i
don't i never thought that that would be the case
any program in a college would be a part of me you know what i mean and uh so
what happened was it was a process of the soul process once i got into rising
stars i realized that the group as a whole that i belong to like we operate
(23:44):
the The same way that we operate on the streets,
but now we're doing it at a school setting.
And like that fires me up because I know that like when I go to different places
on campus, I see other people.
And it is fires me up like, you know, I know that I'm doing exactly what I need to do.
Really like being being serious about my education.
You know, so I think the thing is like really once I got to talk to Joe,
(24:09):
right. And, and, and hear him and hear like what he's been through and like
say, Hey, like you could do it too.
And then I got to talk to Timoteo, Janice, the whole crew. Right.
And the support from Precious is just like epic for me because.
We're in these classes regardless if we're a part
of rising scholars we feel these pressures and like
(24:30):
just to those little day-to-day little commas like hey
what's up how you doing has totally like has totally
like this needs that next level so we're now i know
like i made a decision that um even when i transfer since
i haven't been traveling i'm still going to be working for right you
and it's like dang like how well
is that i've never thought that that'd be that would be
(24:51):
the case for me and you know ultimately I found
a home here you know I found a home and you
know I know that if I put one foot in front of
the other right and maintain working my
program right which consists of a higher power along with a thousand other things
like I'm gonna be okay so that's all I got thanks awesome y'all I love that
(25:18):
speech because even when talking about finding that place on campus.
I just want to reassure everybody that there is a space on campus for everybody.
At some point, you find it. It might not be up from the jump,
but you do find a space that welcomes you where you can go, you can study,
you can find your friends, and you can ultimately feel that empowerment to keep
pushing yourself to go beyond your wildest dreams.
(25:39):
And it's crazy because who would have thought, y'all, that we'd be in the biggest auditorium that Mt.
SAC has, being able to share your experiences and
empower one another to know that you're more than capable of achieving
what we thought what we would like the minimum of
it you feel me man with that being said I
got myself a little choked up with that being said I'm really excited
to welcome our fourth speaker of today he
(26:02):
is a husband he's a father he's a peer mentor he is Timoteo Benitez who is also
another person that I vividly remember in our 9e space when he was bringing
in his friends encouraging them to join the program and encouraging them to
come and study as Anthony that he mentioned,
he had, Timoteo was that person that really pushed somebody to come into the
(26:23):
office and talk to somebody when they needed something.
When I look at Timoteo, I see a really strong leader that has really persevered
through a lot within his time at Mt. SAC.
And I'm really excited for him to be able to share his story and share some
words of encouragement with y'all.
So with that being said, I welcome Timoteo Benitez to the stage.
(26:43):
All right. Let's go. Let's do this. Hello, hello.
Hello. Yep. You see it? It's teeny. Hello. All right.
Hello, family and loved ones. My name is Timoteo, and I'm just very grateful
and thankful that I'm here today to share my experience, strength, and love.
(27:07):
So at a very young age, I grew up in a lifestyle of gang violence and drug addiction.
I remember growing up at a young age, my household was getting shot at where
I wasn't able to walk to school and back because my family was so gang-related.
My mom and all my tilos and primos thought that they were going to get to me just to get to my mom.
(27:32):
Because my mom was that neighborhood mom, you know, in the barrio, you know.
The door's open to every gang member, every, you know, and I grew up. That's how I grew up.
I grew up at night. My house getting shot at where my mom literally told me
and my two younger brothers in the father's room in the back because she didn't
want us to get killed. I wasn't even able to play in my front yard.
(27:55):
Because that's all my lifestyle as a child growing up. That's all I do. That's all I saw.
I remember growing up, my whole house being partied. Finding syringes, finding pipes.
Seeing my cousins who drugs in front of me. So at a young age growing up,
that's all I saw. So that's all I knew life was about.
So at a very young age, age 13, I joined the gang.
(28:19):
I followed my mom's footsteps. steps, my dad's footsteps, all my uncles and cousins.
That year when I joined the gang, I got shot with a double barrel shotgun,
past the chest and the arm.
So from then on, that fear was all inside. So that's when I started carrying guns at a young age.
And from then on, I was like, you know what, age, you get me,
(28:40):
I'm going to get you before you get me.
So from the age of 13, and I'd say about two and a half years ago,
when I started to change my life, it's always been the shrieks.
I always been on drugs, I was drinking alcohol, in and out of prison,
the last 32 years of my life.
In and out, recycling door, I would get out, last a month, catch another four
(29:02):
or five-year term, get out, a month, do another two, three-year term,
it was just a revolving door.
So this last time, when I was out there in my addiction, I was homeless.
Under a bridge in a tank. I would go to every next farm I did,
go to every 7-Eleven, Panhandle, just to have a bottle.
I'd get my next fix until August 23rd of 22, where I had a federal overdose on fentanyl.
(29:31):
And I arrived at Twin Valley Hospital, DOA, didn't arrive at all. I had my heartbeat.
I don't remember. I can't say I remember anything, but by the grace of God, he brought me back.
So that day, I had to make a choice. And I thought, well, is this really going
(29:51):
to be me for the rest of my life?
Am I going to end up in prison for the rest of my life? Am I going to die and not come back again?
So like Anthony said, second chance. I got a second chance at life.
You know, I die. And when my brother got that phone call, and my little brother
(30:15):
got that phone call, my wife, everybody,
when they all picked me up from the hospital, when I got on the car, I felt the silence.
I felt it. And I was in the backseat, and the river, my older brother,
he kept looking back at me.
Didn't take his iPhone on the way home. And I kept looking at me and I felt shame, guilt.
(30:38):
I felt low, low, low, low. I felt less of it.
That was the day I decided to really go to rehab, get clean, go to sober living.
And I remember when I was still on probation and I went to the probation office right here in Monaco.
(30:58):
And I barely got out of rehab. haven't. I think it was my last month on probation
and my PO was like, hey, you know what?
You don't qualify for the INVEST program because you're already,
I've seen your paperwork.
You're going to be on probation the next week.
And then she told me, she was like, what do you want to do? And then I was like,
man, I'll see if I'm going to school to become a drug and alcohol counselor.
(31:21):
And she goes, boom. Right there, Ratchet Scholars.
And that was the day I met Kevin. Kevin sat down, talked to me.
You know, I'm working in Trilogy Scholars.
You know, he was like, hey, bro, you know, tomorrow I'll come on campus.
You know, and I came on campus, and I met the team.
You know, at that time, we were in, like, the old building owned by...
(31:49):
I walked in, I met Carlos, I met Rudy, now he's working too,
and all the good, good people there on the online network. I met precious, you know?
And from that day, when I stepped foot on campus, I never left it.
I was here every day, I was getting to all the programs, I was talking to people
(32:10):
on campus about Rising Scholars, even on the streets about Rising Scholars,
bringing people over here in the school, I was fired up. I'm still fired up.
And, you know, I can't say, you know, life's been good, but it hasn't been perfect.
You know, it's been some struggles. You know, I had a lot of temptations,
but, you know, I just went away.
(32:32):
You know, when I first started school, I was just over living all the way to
school. I thought I ran out of fun.
You know, I got a gun pulled on me. and I was like man bro like no I don't bank
bro like I'm just trying to get to school you know like,
dude you know like like but those were the experiences like like that was a
(32:53):
they were knocking on my door because he wanted me just to react and go back
to the streets like hey homie like come over down the street you know but,
I I knew where I wanted to be and I knew where I was and I ended up being my
life was better than that so I just want to say that.
(33:14):
God tested my tested my life again March 28th,
my baby brother to offend all of those. And he didn't make it.
Well, the Wright Scholars family really showed up. They showed up.
Precious, Kevin, Eric, two other scholars. None of them showed up.
(33:37):
Nobody else was here for me, you know?
And at that time, like, it didn't really hit me because, like,
I was strong for my family.
But now that I think about it, is you, we never know the blessings that you
got from life until it hits you close to home.
You know, and as me being, you know, I went to school to become a drug knockout
(34:02):
counselor, I just seen like, man, man, it hit that close, you know. I lost a lot of friends.
Because when it's your own loved one, your own little brother,
it really, really, it really tears, you know, I was going to leave a hole in my heart, you know.
And if it wasn't for my daughters or my friends, in writing scholars,
(34:23):
I think I would have gave up.
Like I think now I would have trained only back then to use,
but I leaned on writing scholars.
And like, when I was down, they picked me up. Like, come on,
bro. Like, you know, people calling me, check on me. What's up, you all right?
After you calling me, like, no, Eric, like Denise, like everything,
people were there for me.
(34:44):
And I seen her like, damn, these are real friends. This is a real family right
here, you know? You know, and so I don't let my past mistakes determine who I am today.
Because if it wasn't for me going through what I went through,
it wouldn't make me the man I am today.
No, I'm very grateful. I'm a father to my three-year-old daughter.
(35:08):
By the grace of God, she came back in my life. I'm a husband.
I'm an uncle to my next-year-old nephew.
And I'm a brother to the two brothers I got left.
And, as far as education, I'm on fire, man.
Like, in my last two semesters, I walked out the classes with nothing but A's.
(35:33):
You know what I mean? And I was very proud of myself.
Like, I was like, oh, for me, like, because who ever thought,
you know, like, who ever thought somebody like me would really,
really, really, like, walk out and have straight A's? She was like,
come on, run it into the ball.
Like, man, but I never gave myself the chance.
But today I do. No, I suit up, I show up. I'm always here.
(36:00):
I'm everybody out here. I don't know something. We're going to find out, believe me.
And I'm just very grateful that I have the honor and the privilege to be amongst you.
And I think another glory is going to open for my two friends, Janice and Janet.
(36:23):
We went to get a reliance scan. And that's another door that if God's with him
and God's ignored, it's going to open a door for me now to go back into camps.
Right? A place that I thought I never walked. But here too, but I can walk out
and help people out as well.
And it's just been a good journey. And that's our story. Thank you. Demondel, please.
(36:50):
Okay. I actually think this is a perfect opportunity to share this.
We do have our last speaker coming up, our last but not least speaker.
But with that being said, with everything y'all have been sharing,
it's just been something reoccurring on my mind. And Timoteo really solidified that.
I forget to share this a lot. If I'm being honest with you, and I'm trying to get better with it.
So I am indirectly system impacted, meaning that I have not been directly affected
by the criminal justice system. but I have indirectly impacted because of my
(37:14):
dad, my uncles, my cousins.
I can only say that two of the men in my family have not experienced incarceration out of the other ones.
And with that being said, I grew up hearing from my dad that he wasn't supposed
to be here. He was supposed to be dead.
Constantly told me that growing up. And I kept telling my dad,
no, you're meant to be here. There's a reason why you made it out. There's a reason.
I strongly believe there's a a reason to it. And I said this in the past.
(37:38):
I've said this at our Still We Rise ceremony this last Saturday,
but I really strongly believe there are no mistakes at Mt. SAC.
Y'all were meant to step on this campus and meet the friends y'all met.
Y'all were meant to come to this campus to make the change in your own family's
lives because you just being here is opening doors that is beyond on our own imagination.
(38:00):
And that's the crazy part, is because we simply trusted Mt. SAC,
we are where we are right now.
Because Mt. SAC is going to help you find who you are.
It's going to give you that door to explore different things that we never thought we would.
Going to meet new people that you never thought you'd interact with.
And with that being said, it really gives me a good segue into our last speaker,
(38:23):
Victor Sierra, who actually had a speech class with Eric Guevara.
And they're sitting in the speech class. Y'all didn't know each other,
if I'm correct. Didn't know each other.
Ended up finding each other. And that's where Eric was able to bring Victor
into the Rising Scholars space.
And that's where we met Victor, who is a proud veteran, who is a very supportive
partner from just conversations I've had with him, and is a really dedicated
(38:44):
scholar that is constantly trying to study, get other people involved,
connect with other students in our space.
And this is all within a semester and and a half of being in Rising Scholars.
So imagine what Victor is already going to do past this point.
So I'm really excited to welcome Victor Sierra to the stage,
our last but not least, final speaker.
(39:08):
Year, I was sitting in a dark Veterans of Foreign Wars bar.
I was drinking straight from a bottle, had a gun in my hand,
and I was contemplating suicide.
I served as a Marine with Special Operations Infantry Groups.
I lost 90% of my company to I.N.D.
Strikes, gunshots, and suicide. It's like, not only when I came back in that
(39:33):
bar and I got home, I had a real self-reflection with myself.
I asked myself, what scares you more than anything in this world?
I asked myself, what is it? Education does.
Education scares me more than death. It took me a long time to understand why
(39:53):
I think like that. because I would have never imagined that I would make it
as a scholar or be here as a student.
After all that time dealing with people telling me what to do with myself and
Marines telling me what to do, I got pulled back into a world of addiction.
I got pulled back into a place where I never would have seen myself again.
(40:17):
So today, I first want to share my experience with my education and my personal
life. And this is all after my military discharge, my medical military discharge.
Then I'll touch on my experience coming back to Mt. SAC.
And finally, the success I've had reintegrating back into education.
(40:42):
Reintegration back into education has been an overwhelming problem for the veteran community.
Veterans struggle with four main problems. problems
managing strong emotions lost sense
of purpose lack of faith and
mental illness I was released from the Marine Corps December 30th 2016 those
(41:06):
issues have affected my ability to pursue my education being unable to regulate
my emotions has affected my relationships relationships,
has affected my family relationships,
has ruined my marriage.
My PTSD still hasn't been resolved. I don't know if it ever will be,
(41:28):
but it keeps me from making those social connections that's required as a leader.
Ultimately, my inability to manage my emotions led to my divorce and landed
me to make decisions that put me into the incarceration system.
Now that I discussed my challenges after military service, let's discuss my
(41:52):
turning point moment that inspired me to come back to college.
Less than a year ago, I was contemplating suicide in the memory of a Marine, Corporal Michael J.
Dutcher, who I served with and still his memory keeps me alive.
We were sitting on a post in Afghanistan, like most Marines do, watch out for the enemy.
(42:16):
He would tell me, man, Victor, I'm so excited to go back to school when we get
back home. But he didn't make it back.
From that memory, I reluctantly went back to Mt. SAC and started in the summer of 2023.
I thought I could handle being a student without having any friends,
(42:38):
without being part of any clubs, or without using the resources or the programs
here at Mt. SAC. I was wrong.
And I found myself almost failing the first semester here.
Of education kept me from believing I belong here.
At a time when I needed the support the most, rising scholars found me.
(43:01):
They gave me a sense of purpose to overcome a big fear, which is education.
Now that I covered my experience coming back to Mt. SAC, let's discuss where
I stand now and my journey as a student here.
After the struggle I faced with mental health, sense of purpose,
and lack of faith, I currently find myself involved in student life.
(43:24):
I'm excelling in classes. I'm making a difference.
Currently, I'm pursuing a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling.
I'm working at the Veterans Resource Center.
I'm a member of the Male Minority Initiative and the president of the Student
Veterans of America Club.
I truly believe without the resources on campus and the inspiring mentors that
(43:50):
I met along the way, I would be back in that bar waiting for my life to end.
Today, I covered the challenges I faced first coming back to college after military life.
Then the turning point that inspired me to come back. And finally,
where I stand here as a student at Mt. SAC.
At the end of the day, if you're going to take one thing away from this speech,
(44:12):
is to understand that the life-changing resources here on campus can make a
difference if you let them.
You should ask yourself what difference you want to make for your family,
for other students here on campus, and more importantly, for yourself.
Because for me, my trauma and my pain are my motivators and drivers to continue
(44:36):
to inspire students, other veteran students, and incarcerated students. Thank you.
How do y'all feel? Yeah? Y'all feel good? I'm glad to hear that.
I want to, at this time, welcome James Juana to the stage. She's going to support
me with providing some token of appreciation to y'all.
(44:56):
So with that being said, it's about like two months ago, I think I messaged y'all, if I'm right.
Two months ago, I emailed the five lovely faces that came up and then also two
other students where hopefully I could convince them to do it next year after
seeing that their peers were able to do it.
But I'd emailed them and said, congratulations, you were selected for this event.
They trusted us with literally little to nothing to really see how this was going to go,
(45:18):
but they trusted us to come up here and share their story and share how education
has really been that turning point for them to spark hope and also pride in
what they stand for and doing every day.
With that being said, a little story. I used to come, me and Kevin used to have
a little back and forth because when I would send emails, I would say, what's up scholars?
And he's like, some people don't see themselves as scholars.
(45:39):
And I'm just like, well, if you're a rising scholars, you see yourself as a scholar.
And if you see, I've been a lot more of scholars, scholars, scholars,
and we've actually come up with a logo that is literally certified scholar.
When you graduate, that's something you receive.
Another thing you receive when you graduate because you push through and persevered
through a lot of different obstacles is you get this pin.
(46:00):
It's a Rising Scholars pin. A lot of the time, if you see it,
people ask, how do you get this? You only get this during graduation.
And then a few different events that when you push yourself out of your your
comfort zone we try to provide them to you so with that being said if i can
invite anthony timoteo janiece victor and eric to the stage james is go ahead clap y'all got this.
(46:20):
James is gonna pin y'all with the rising scholars pin for our token appreciation but also,
as a symbol as a time where you really push yourself past your fears so with
that being said i'll give james the pin and he'll pin them on each of the scholars
i already kind of took one off for you. Gotcha.
(46:43):
One and How do you deal with another woman? You're going to be a free man.
I got you. I've had it. She'll go to me. I've had it.
It's the gift. I'm going to hit the weekend.
I'm going to hit you. I'm going to hit you. james
is doing that i actually i hope y'all feel
no type of way me putting on the spot but we also did have two
(47:05):
other scholars that were going to be up here today but just with life
and also different things going on with their classes they weren't
able to join us but we do have someone here as support that was supposed to join
us her name is Janet Cicero she's in the in the audience right now I was gonna
say the class but Janet is here and she is somebody that still went along the
process with them of showing up to the different practices we had show up in
(47:26):
the conversation and different group group chats that we had of trying to get
everybody out so I'd love to invite Janet so she can also receive her pin of appreciation.
(47:47):
And with that being said,
this actually does conclude the first ever Real Talk.
I will, I highly encourage if you were inspired or even just want to participate
(48:08):
in something like this next year, please reach out to these lovely six.
And then also Shante Jones, who also was a part of the original planning for this group.
And just know that all those, those can be really scary. And also just something
that's really out of our comfort zone.
We're more than capable of doing it. And this is also something where,
when I was really thinking about it, actually, I didn't share this story either,
(48:29):
is so one person that really pushed me to do this, and I don't know if he knows this, is Eric.
When Eric was doing a speech class, he would come in every single day to show
us his speech and practice his speech and just really try to have us connected
in what he was doing in his classes.
And one of his speeches was actually on solitary confinement.
And he talked about how isolation is damaging to the brain.
(48:51):
There's actual research that shows there is isolation plays a factor into harming the brain.
And when Eric was sharing that, I was thinking, well, damn, something like Real
Talk can be a space where we're bringing in community.
And what does community do? It sparks collaboration.
It sparks building a safe space so that you can push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
(49:13):
So that's ultimately the goal of what Real Talk is. And I hope it's something
that really puts its roots at Mt.
SAC so that we could continue inspiring students and pushing them to knowing
that they are more than capable of achieving believing anything they put their mind to.
With that being said, I want to thank you all for coming. If anybody wants to
add any closing remarks, the floor is open.
And with that being said, thank you again for joining us.
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