Other - Social Science - October 2006

Anthony “Scott” Washington’s life reads like the pages of comeback-kid drama. This week, the 40-year old husband and father of four will take the Ohio bar exam. Rewind just 15 years and you will uncover an inspiring transformation that exemplifies the life-changing power that exists within the human spirit. For years, his life revolved around his gang, crack cocaine addiction, and habit-supporting crimes. Functionally illiterate with a rap sheet of 19 arrests, Scott Washington experienced a turning point on Easter Sunday morning in 1990. It resurrected his potential and changed the course of his life forever.

“I had been up for two to three days, drinking and smoking as much crack as I could,” recalls the Los Angeles native. “I had a five-week old baby, Scottie, and the baby’s mother, also a crack addict, walked out that weekend and never returned. Scottie would not stop crying and I began to fear that he was going to die.”

Holding the baby in his arms, he says, “I looked into his eyes, filled with tears and promised him I would never get high again. I apologized for tolerating his mother’s crack addiction during her pregnancy, collected my belongings and my beautiful baby boy, and headed for a life free of the burden of addiction, addicts, and social deviations.”

“I think what happened that day was a spiritual experience,” he says. “I don’t think it is just a coincidence that my turning point came on Easter Sunday.”

Estranged from his family, unemployed and unskilled, Scott called his mother. She had essentially disowned him years earlier after multiple attempts to help him get his life on track,. “My mother listened and then said that I could come home on the condition that I went through a rehabilitation program.” Scott joined Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and every day for months, he attended meetings and he always carried Scottie with him. It took three to four years before the urge for crack subsided, he admits, but he hasn’t touched drugs since that rock bottom day in April 1990.

Kicking his drug habit was just the first step to getting his life together. It would be a steep, uphill climb to create the kind of life and stability he wanted for his little boy. He needed employment, but with a criminal record, landing a job would prove a challenge. His father, a veterinarian, got him a job cleaning cages at an animal research facility. It was hard, unpleasant work, but it paid $25,000 and it was a start. His next opportunity crossed his path during an AA meeting. Someone from a local junior college football team invited him to come out and watch practice. While there, the coach asked him if he wanted to participate in practice the next day. Impressed by his physical size and abilities, the coach invited him to join the team as a fullback. Of course, that also meant he had to enroll in school.

He was 26 years old and starting community college. He took two to three classes each semester while working full-time. “For the first three years, all of my classes were remedial courses,” he says. In my first college English course, I was the only English-speaking person in the class.”

As it turns out, Scott was functionally illiterate. Introduced to drugs in the 5th grade, school had not been a priority. Now he had to make up for lost time.

Undeterred by his lack of college preparation, he was determined and says he thoroughly enjoyed education. “I was positive. I was in school! I had spent the last 10 years as an absolute loser. I felt great at this point. I had a three year old, I had been off of drugs for nearly three years. I was working and going to school.” Around this time, he also met and married his wife. A 19-year old student with two jobs, she was serious about creating a bright future. Together, they’ve done just that.

After five years, he earned an Associate of Arts degree with a 3.5 grade point average. He continued his education at California State University at Northridge. Despite a full-time work schedule, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Studies two years later, graduating with honors and a 3.9 grade point average. Scott didn’t stop there. He applied to several law schools and was accepted and offered a teaching assistantship at the University of Dayton. In 2000, he and his family, including his wife, four children and his wife’s grandmother, moved to Ohio. He graduated from the University of Dayton School of Law in 2003.

“I wouldn’t be where I am now without my wife,” he insists. When he finally made it to law school, she supported the family while Scott pursued his law degree. “It takes so much to go to law school that I simply would not have been able to do it if not for her. She worked and took care of seven people.”

Although he graduated from law school, his application to sit for the bar was twice denied because of a prior felony conviction during his crime and drug days. He enlisted the help of attorney David Greer and a committee appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court overwhelmingly approved for him to sit for the bar in 2004. He takes the bar exam this week and will have to await the results. If his determination and resolve of the last 15 years is any indication, Scott Washington has a great shot at realizing his dream.

Currently a staff attorney in the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in Dayton, Ohio, he also spends much of his time counseling young felons whose lives are strikingly similar to the life he left behind. His vision is to use his life experiences to have a positive impact on the African-American community. He speaks and motivates ex-offenders who are trying to transform their lives and offers five lessons that he gleaned from his own transformation:

2006-10-16 16:51:58 · 6 answers · asked by will d 1

I really need this urgently people!
Atleast lemme know which site I can look up to.
Thanx!
PS:Rubbish answers not needed.

2006-10-16 16:50:50 · 2 answers · asked by The Slytherin Princess 1

I know he was in the military about that time.

2006-10-16 16:26:30 · 2 answers · asked by Red 1

I live in Canada Ontario. There is on the news about land which was according to them theres and in that area for example, There has been fights and its just pure bitter. I see there point but why do the POLICE treat them different because if it was a Normal citzen the police would have arrested them I dont understand that.? and who is right after all wasnt it there land first? and as for the land I do see there point it was built on which the Ontario goverment now bought and is talking one on one with them I just dont understand why when you see the news they get treated different and I want to know whos right Im confused...

2006-10-16 16:22:30 · 5 answers · asked by imgreatforyou 1

Being mad at a guy and yelling at him, you knock him down and he falls down like a toy and doesn't move but cries?

2006-10-16 16:20:11 · 9 answers · asked by Snorty 1

options
1.yaki
2.zeruk
3.yarkuni
4.nevki

2006-10-16 15:44:36 · 8 answers · asked by rashmi c 1

2006-10-16 15:22:16 · 5 answers · asked by ttmama 1

2006-10-16 14:56:44 · 11 answers · asked by ypina 2

tell me more about its history

2006-10-16 14:54:25 · 2 answers · asked by Denise G 1

2006-10-16 14:14:47 · 3 answers · asked by Violeta S 1

2006-10-16 13:52:58 · 4 answers · asked by Jazmin D 1

2006-10-16 13:45:44 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous

Guys what do you want in your dream girl? Smart, killer body, etc. What other odd-er or more just unique qualities would/do you appreciate to find in a woman that makes her stand out? Obviously open to answers from women too.

2006-10-16 13:31:41 · 8 answers · asked by anabanana 3

How do you see God????

2006-10-16 13:10:44 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous

?

2006-10-16 13:04:23 · 11 answers · asked by Sam j 1

2006-10-16 12:59:54 · 6 answers · asked by reymysterio619huracanrana 2

2006-10-16 12:47:10 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous

2006-10-16 12:27:55 · 28 answers · asked by Anonymous

2006-10-16 12:14:04 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous

2006-10-16 12:07:37 · 7 answers · asked by princesssly8 1

what was columbus thinking.what can we learn and how do we know that the earth is spherical or like a ball.

2006-10-16 11:53:07 · 12 answers · asked by deelishious 1

What job pays VERY VERY well? And it is a supportive job like such things as doctors, police, psycologists, pharmacists, counselors, etc.
What pays best?; EXCLUDING DOCTORS AND POLICE!

2006-10-16 11:46:09 · 14 answers · asked by Alan 4

2006-10-16 11:26:58 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous

Globalisation just encourages a flow of crime, drugs and illegal immigrants. Is this true?

2006-10-16 10:18:25 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous

2006-10-16 09:48:13 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous

2006-10-16 09:20:59 · 10 answers · asked by stefanie 1

2006-10-16 09:11:20 · 10 answers · asked by BaD mAn R 1

I was walking with my friends downtown and any little girls run away when ever any men just walk beside them. Are parents to blame for this because I think their teaching that men can only be kidnappers. Anyone can be a kidnapper.

2006-10-16 08:48:06 · 5 answers · asked by googlebball 3

2006-10-16 08:38:15 · 6 answers · asked by Niceyguy 2

when i talk to someone i mostly look at their left eye,well,their right,but left from my prespective.does this mean anything?which eye do YOU look at the most?

2006-10-16 08:32:59 · 10 answers · asked by ◄ZΨΦИ► 2