Back to School Again
Dropping Back In at Thirty  
Story by David Madrid // Art by Adrian Avila

I just got home from my second job, but there is no time to kick back. I only have enough time to grab a bite to eat and kiss my wife and son goodbye, before I'm right back out that door. It's Wednesday night, I have class and I don't want to be late.

I dropped out of Independence High School mid senior year back in ‘96, not because I was lazy or some juvenile delinquent as the stereotypes might have you believe, but because of a combination of bad choices and the pressure to work a full-time job.

The truth is, I was discouraged early on in my high school career. I was transferred from East San Jose to a school in North Monterey County my freshmen year. I remember sitting in an office surrounded by blue-eyed counselors with posters on the wall that said, "Dare to Dream" and other encouraging slogans. They were there to help me plan out my high school career and ultimately my future. They asked me what is it that I want to do with my life. I replied with stars in my eyes, “I want to help people, I want to be a youth counselor.” The room fell silent, then one of the counselors looked at me and said, "There's too much school involved for that, why don't you pick a trade." And there it was, I dared to dream.

There's no wonder why I chose money in my pocket over completing my senior year of high school. I fell into the trap that alot of young people from the neighborhood seem to fall in. Picking a dead end job is no different from others who choose to sell dope or steel as a means to get by. We get caught up in the here and now and tend not to think about the future.

As that job (working at a damn movie theater) came and went along with others there after, dropping out of school became one of my biggest regrets. I remember sitting in my grandparents living room looking at all the graduation photos of various family members, when it hit me. I just became another statistic, another brown faced Chicano society said couldn't make it.   I was stuck in a daze, staring at my uncle Tony's picture on the wall "Mt. Pleasant class of 1970" when my grandpa shook me up, "Go back to school!"

"Get your education, it's not to late!" made it's way into our conversation every time me and my grandpa spoke. He was 58 years old back in 1969” when he finally got his high school diploma.

He truly embraced the value of education, coming from a generation where school was a privilege and not taken for granted.

So I took his advice and as the years rolled on, I did try dropping back in a couple of times. I hit up some night classes at the East Side Adult Center and I even enrolled at San Jose City College for a while.

I went full steam ahead jumping into a full week of classes. But it didn't last. It was hard for me getting into the school mode, I been out of school for so long, I got overwhelmed and lost my drive.  

I had no direction. I knew I wanted to go to school, but what am I going to school for?   I had friends who spent years and money at junior colleges, and not to mention trade schools, and were still working the same retail and warehouse jobs that I worked.

So I kept on pushing ahead, living life figuring I don't need school. And for the most part, everything seemed to be working out. I'm now pushing 30-years-old, married with children, working two jobs I love. And can you believe it, one of them is even being a youth counselor.  

But now the road has come full circle, that little piece of paper I thought I could do without is now holding me back from stabilizing and securing my future.   Doors have opened for me and I'm in a unique and rare position of possibly moving me and my family up a whole class level, if I play my cards right.

Achieving that diploma is the first step I need to take. So I'm off to night school again at the East Side Adult Center, to finish what I started. But this time I'm gonna do it one step at a time with direction and a solid plan.

So to all those in high school, get it done the first time. And to those who have dropped out, remember its never to late and you can never be too old to drop back in.

This story is dedicated to my grandfather Marshall V. Soria who's hard work and struggle proved to me that you are never to old to better yourself and continue your education.