By MIKE AVERILL World Staff Writer on Jul 26, 2013, at 2:22 AM??Updated on 7/26/13 at 10:34 AM
HOMINY - After he graduated from Collinsville High School, Trymaine White planned to take a year off before attending college to become a pediatrician. A felony conviction derailed that plan.White, who had been a juvenile offender, was sentenced to five years in prison for possession of a firearm.
Now the father of three is determined to do right by his family when he is released from the Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy.
On Thursday, he took the first steps down that path when he received a business computer user certificate from Tulsa Community College through its Second Chance program.
"I want to let them know that even though I got in trouble, I'm not a bad person," White said.
"I want to be an inspiration to my two sons and daughter because everyone was always telling me I was a bad person."
White was one of 26 inmates to receive certificates or associate's degrees during a graduation ceremony at the prison Thursday.
Through the Second Chance program, TCC sends faculty members to the prison to teach classes to medium- and minimum-security offenders.
The inmates can obtain certificates in areas such as computers, hotel and restaurant management, and landscape design.
Associate's degrees are available in business and enterprise development.
"People with felonies have a hard time getting a job," said Jim Maxson, an associate professor at TCC and the corrections education organizer.
He said TCC chose those particular fields of study because they are industries that are open to hiring felons.
"We know they'll start at the bottom, but as their peers move on, our hope is that they will be able to move into supervisor positions in those industries," Maxson said.
TCC created the Second Chance program in 2007 with a grant and now funds the program with scholarships and private funding.
Since its inception, nearly 320 inmates have gone through the program.
"More than 60 percent of those incarcerated have less than a ninth-grade education," Maxson said.
He added that the average recidivism rate is 23.8 percent. But for offenders with some college education, it's less than 12 percent, and for those with an associate's degree, it's less than 1 percent.
"If you give them an education, you save money and create a productive citizen," Maxson said, adding that the average cost for an incarceration is $100,000.
The graduation address was given by Jeff Henderson, an award-winning chef, author and convicted felon who spent 10 years in a California state prison, where he developed a passion for cooking.
"I never would have imagined I would value education," he said. "Education is power. Education is money in the bank. Education is the only way to achieve the American dream the right way.
"It's not easy to have a house with a nice kitchen and a swimming pool in the backyard," Henderson told the honorees, "but this is a road map that leads to success."
Mike Averill 918-581-8489
mike.averill@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Prison to paycheck
george clooney Zero Dark Thirty Academy Awards 2013 Django Unchained jennifer hudson jennifer garner jennifer garner
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.