“I grew up in foster care. I was snatched away from my mother when I was six-years-old when she went to jail. I bounced around to every family member and couldn’t tell you how many places I have lived. I was bad when I was kid. I was going through a lot and didn’t understand it. I grew up hard, not fitting in. Not understanding illegal drugs or why people I knew were soliciting themselves. My dad is an alcoholic and I don’t talk to him much. My mom got out of prison again last year and I talk to her. I have tried to fix relationships with my lost family. I went to college, but when I aged out of foster care at 19, I had to drop out because when the semester ended, so did my dorm lease. All of my focus went towards surviving. It is a lot to go through, but it made me who I am and gave me the ability to distance myself and be objective.”

“I was living with my sister for a little while. I had a different mindset and she didn’t like it and she falsely accused me of stealing from her. I went to Metro jail for six months and got out in October, when my brother bonded me out. It went to court and they had no evidence, so they threw it out. I was already on probation because a friend’s younger brothers stole from my dad’s neighbor when we went into her house to use her computer. I had permission to go into her house and shouldn’t have let him go with me, but he is a juvenile and I am the one that was accused. Before I went to Metro, I wasn’t living in faith. I was having panic attacks, and didn’t know what love was. I started reading the Bible in jail and found God and started living in love. My life changed in jail and I ministered to a lot of people. I was so excited about learning that I even read the Koran and sometimes I forgot about being in jail.”

“Today I am living in a tent. I have a place where I stay every night and take it down and stow it away during the day. I have been sleeping there for 3-4 months. I eat breakfast and try to focus on small goals. At the end of the day, I write down six things I want to accomplish the next day. I am working on getting a part-time job so I can work while I study. I also need to save for a camera and laptop. I have been trying to turn in an application a day, but I haven’t been getting any calls back. I am ready to do anything. I haven’t approached any lawyers yet about investigative work and getting to jobs is difficult because I don’t have transportation or money for bus passes.”

“I am putting a lot of effort into myself and it took a lot for me to get where I am. I am a man of God and believe God has a plan for me. I have a blog and I do scriptural study every week, but I still go through trials and am plagued by sin and temptations that I need to overcome.”

“A few years ago, I participated in the National Social Work Enrichment Program. I toured Auburn and found the book ‘Mastermind’ by Maria Konnikova about how to think like Sherlock Holmes. I realized I have a talent for analyzing things and reading people. I want to know how things work. When I read the book, I knew I wanted to do something with psychology and to be a private investigator. I am studying on my own to do that now and I need to take an exam when I get off probation to get the license. Growing up, I wanted to do great things. I would look at the stars and want to be an astronaut. I wanted to leave earth. I feel like everything is a game, and I have to win. I have goals and want to accomplish things. I want to help children. I want to be a crime scene investigator and help deliver justice. I hate evil and crime. I have seen it way too much. I want to protect people’s lives. If I have to build myself up from the ground up, I will succeed.”