The Autobiography of Jeffery Culverson Jr

An experience in my life that influences my goals to go back to school is when I went to jail for the first time. Going to jail is an experience that changed my life forever, because it made me think of all the wrong things I was doing with my life. When I got out of jail, I attended church for the first time and asked Jesus Christ to come into my life. After asking Jesus to come into my life, I felt a change within myself and realized I can be a good person and that I am forgiven for the bad things I did in the past. Going back to school and taking my future seriously is what I am focused on right now. I want my children to know that I am doing this for them so they can have a secure future as well. I have 3 young children who look up to me and I do not want to let them down.

After graduating high school, I went on to attend Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL, where I pursued a degree in pre-pharmacy while doing track and field. After being there and becoming homesick after 6 months, I decided to go back home (Atlanta, GA). I thought I was ready for the college life, but I just was not. So I attended a technical college to pursue a lesser dream and become a pharmacy technician. While only being a technician for about 3 years I was able to purchase my own home at the age of 21! Purchasing my own home was a great accomplishment for me. I later got engaged and married that same year, 2008, to the love of my life at that time. In the year of 2009 I had a handsome baby boy whom I named Cardoza. My marriage began to get rocky and my career began to come to a stand still and boring. My husband at the time and I separated and my career led me to Florida. When I first came to Florida I was able to transfer my job as working as a retail pharmacy technician. After coming into difficulties with keeping my insurance and a consistent work schedule to maintain 40 hours a week, I started searching for another job.

High School came and i ended up getting pregnant with a baby boy.I put school on hold so i can be there to raise my son.I was a single parent.I felt like i had to drop out of school and start working to support my son.Thats what i ended up doing.It was really hard for me.As my class graduated i was working being a single parent,it made me really sad to see my class graduate without me.

I came to realize that playing music can bring someone great fortune. I had no plans for the future, no goals, nor dreams before I starting my path in music. I never wondered without direction. But one day, good fortune came to me. A fortune I would have never of thought of. It was The Gracias choir and music. I was thinking to myself “I have never been so happy nor have I had so much enjoyment to live. To have an open mind to people around the world by delivering my heart threw my music. It looks like a dream!"

Coming back to school after being away for 17 years has been one of the most emotionally taxing endeavors I've experienced. My career experience was working in the quality control field. Being apart of the industry was very satisfying until the point in which the 2008 recession hit. Having to go through the uncertainty of being laid off and the frustration of trying to reenter the work force with only a high school diploma brought into focus that I needed to finish the bachelor degree I had started. While attempting to find gainful employment I took the opportunity to begin the process of transferring to a school here in California. I had originally started my degree in Lincoln, Nebraska, but moved out to California with my significant other.

I found a job that I have been at for twenty years now. Ten years ago I met my current wife; she had put herself through college and was proud of her accomplishment. Throughout our marriage she would encourage me go back to school and complete a degree for myself. I would always tell her there just was not enough time in a day or money in the bank for college; this was my excuse so I wouldn’t fail.

Moving from New York to California , I was exposed to more education opportunities. During my junior year of highschool I started taking college classes after school at the local community college. My counselor told me about this opportunity because moving from New York i had already met all the requirements to graduate. This, I felt was a big accomplishment because I had never taken such rigorous classes before and never after school. I took one college class before during the summer so i had no worries of trying to keep up with my high school work without falling behind on my college class either.

For this I also took the challenge of learning everything I could and build on my knowledge. Throughout my life there has being several achievements that I am proud of just like any other person but their is one I am most proud of. It was a little before high school that I made a major decision that changed my life forever, my life took a new course.. It was one of those situations that you never expect, I had being accepted to this new program in the district called Early College Academy. This program gave the opportunity to students to be able to take high school classes while taking college credits, with the opportunity of getting their Associate’s Degree with their high school diploma. This was not just a great opportunity for me but it was also a gift, the district was paying for my higher education. As I set myself in this journey I grew up mentally and started to act as a college student, also, I learned to be on top of my classes and go a mile further in what I did. Although, I also encounter new struggles, for example, I was expected to pass a college level test when I was barely starting high

I graduated high school at age sixteen; looking back, I didn’t think I had too many options when it came to continuing my education. I grew up as the youngest of eight children in a single parent family unit, who would experience financial hardship and make ends meet by receiving a lot of hand me downs. Attending school every day was essential not because of education, but because it was a way for my siblings and me to be guaranteed to eat a healthy meal at least five days a week. My mother worked hard and long hours, which meant there was no time for learning or getting any help with school work. I was not a very good student and the majority of people, including my high school teachers did not anticipate me furthering my education as an adult. The premise would be that I get married and start a family and that’s exactly what I did.

I've learned and realized a key fact; there's more out there to know and experience than what I was always use to. Changes will always happen; it can either be good or bad; you can either learn from it or earn from it. I've lived in Guyana, South America with my family up until I was nineteen years old, then I moved to Miami, Florida with my eldest sister for college. Moving from one county to another was a significant change for me and if affected every aspect of my life. As I got acquainted with my new home and surroundings in Miami, I found myself reminiscing and comparing how differently I've lived in two countries in terms of; dependency and responsibility, characteristics of school, and freedom from dull routines.

We were married right after I graduated high school and started college that following September. Soon after that, I found out I was pregnant; telling my family didn't go well. My mom did not talk to me for four months. I finished my certification in Early Childhood Development, making the Dean’s list and completing 24 credits per semester to prove to my family that they were wrong; that I was not screwing up my life.

I did not stay in school for long because my farther sent for me to come back and live with him down in Texas. This was very frustrating because I started to feel like I will never get a chance to be settled down and have a normal life. Once I got to enrolled into my school I can't recall the name but I never took anything I did seriously. This was because I felt like I was just going to move away and everything I did would not matter. Shortly my dad told me and my older brother we was heading off to Washington state because of the job he had.

Life after school felt very short of my plans. Although I love my husband, I became very isolated. In part by moving out of state and

I still wanted to better my life and my child’s life. After having my daughter, Jayne in 2006, I decided to go back and get my GED. I decided to set a goal of getting my GED before 2009. I found a nice school for young adults like myself. I didn’t have to stay in the dorms

stone. I thought I was living the “dream” life. Two weeks before I was supposed to be leaving for school, I found out I was pregnant. My life came tumbling down, I felt like a complete failure. I went down to South Caroline and unenrolled from College. I started community college instead and stayed living with my parents. Soon after, I was excited for my son to be born. My son saved me from being in major debt. The school in