From correctional center to Congress: Former inmate vouches for education

LYNN – In just over a year, Ruben Holguin has gone from lobbying for his freedom to lobbying in Washington for increased adult education.”I got involved with the Adult Learner Leadership,” Holguin said regarding his recent trip to Washington, DC. “I told my story, and I went the extra mile and said if I hadn’t been denied (adult) education, because there was a waiting list, I might not have gotten into so much trouble.”Holguin admitted his problems started when he was an out-of-control middle school student who got expelled from Marshall Middle School and later from the Fecteau-Leary Alternative School.”I was always fighting, throwing stuff at the teachers. I was a hot mess,” he said. “I was a DYS (Department of Youth Services) committed kid, so you can tell how out of control I was.”After getting kicked out of school, Holguin, a native Lynner, said he dropped out altogether, got involved in a gang and was headed down a bad path. A friend finally convinced him he should get his GED, a high school diploma equivalency, but when he went to Operation Bootstrap he learned there was a lengthy waiting list, he said.”They got me in there in six months, but I still got into trouble,” he said.Holguin said he managed to pass two of the five GED exams before he was arrested on a drug violation and sent to “the farm,” the Lawrence Correctional Alternative Center.At the farm, Holguin said he knew he had to make a choice: fall in with the gang or stand on his own and pursue his education.”You really have no choice; it’s all run by gangs,” he said, referring to the correctional center, “but I set a goal, and it was education.”He took his remaining three GED exams behind bars, he said. He also connected with Straight Ahead Ministries, which connected him with Project Enable at North Shore Community College, a program that helps convicts succeed in college. On Feb. 4, 2012, the day he was released from prison, Holguin was driven directly to NSCC where he met Project Enable Coordinator Babo Kamel, “the woman of my dreams,” who helped enroll him in college, he said.A little over a year later Kamel put his name in to attend VALUEUSA’s National Adult Learner Leadership Institute to advocate for increased adult education. In Washington, D.C., he told his story, attended congressional breakfasts and met with leaders such as Dr. Brenda Dann-Messier, assistant secretary in the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, former Lynner Eugene Schneeberg, who is now director of the Faith-Based And Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Justice and Rep. John Tierney.”I was very impressed not because he’s a congressman but because he listens,” Holguin said. “It was a great conversation.”Holguin said he liked Washington, where people called him a natural leader.When asked how he keeps away from his old life, he admits that it’s never far off.”You’re always in that life, you just learn to distance yourself,” he said. “I keep myself busy. I work, I go to school and I go back to work, and I’m so grateful for Babo because she pushes me.”Aiming for a degree in political science, Holguin said it’s too early to tell exactly what he’ll do with his education but he knows exactly where it will take him.”I want to do whatever I do in Washington,” he said. “I fit in.”But he also knows that despite his education when he graduates he will not have the same opportunities as many of his classmates.”I’m a convicted felon,” he said. “I have a background.”He said he understands that his record will always be an issue and it is what pushes some people back into “the life.””Honestly, the system fails us,” he said. “They want you to get an education but you still can’t get a job because you have this background. It forces some to go back to their old ways because they know they can deal drugs.”Holguin said he would like to share his hard won wisdom with kids in school teetering on the edge as he once was.”My advice is that they can do it,” he said. “I did it, which is why I