Lynn student perseveres to win big scholarship

PEABODY – Four years ago, Brian Castellanos was attending Lynn English High School, playing football and, after working at one of his two jobs, came home. To his car.In two weeks, Castellanos will graduate from college with a double major, a 3.7 grade point average and plans to attend graduate school to fulfill his dream of working in law enforcement.”Everything I went through, statistically, was supposed to take me off to a different realm,” Castellanos said Sunday. “I grew up in a tough neighborhood, but was able to fight through adversity and produce a good life for me now, and I really want to help people.”Castellanos, 23, shared his story after being honored as a scholarship recipient at the 25th Annual Holiday Candlelight Service on Sunday night at the Puritan Lawn Memorial Park cemetery. For the past four years, Castellanos has received a total of $25,000 from the Puritan Lawn Memorial Park Educational Foundation, a group based in Peabody, which provides assistance for promising students who have faced personal hardships.But living in his car was not the only hardship that Castellanos recalled facing.Castellanos grew up on Chatham Street as the youngest of 12 children in a poor family. The family finances became desperate after Castellanos’ mother died when he was a freshman in high school. Castellanos father was subsequently rarely home, having to work two jobs to support his children. Castellanos lived with his brother, Eddie, until Eddie died of lymphoma in Castellanos’ senior year.But Castellanos was reluctant about sharing his plight. He prides himself on always being positive, always attending school and always being dedicated to his commitments. In fact, Castellanos said it was only when a football coach asked why he was uncharacteristically late to a practice that Castellanos said his brother had died about an hour earlier.And Castellanos initially didn’t tell anybody he was homeless. A police officer told Lt. Peter Holey, a football coach at English at the time, that he had seen one of Holey’s players sleeping overnight in a car.For despite his hardships, Castellanos said he had a dream of being the first of his family to attend college. Plus, he had advice that he wanted to follow.”I watched (my brother) die in six months, and he told me, ?Brian, go follow your dream, put your teeth into what you want and go and get it,'” Castellanos said, choking up. “And I took that to my heart. To this day, no way I will let myself give up.”Teachers and coaches soon offered help, impressed by Castellanos’ attitude and his determination.Castellanos credited his football coaches and particularly Holey and Greg Brotherton, another Lynn police officer coaching at English, with inspiring him to pursue law enforcement. Castellanos thanked Lynn Housing for helping him find a home after his brother’s death.And Castellanos credited Nicole Passanisi, his guidance counselor at English, with connecting him to the Puritan Lawn scholarship.”Brian is, simply stated, a survivor,” Passanisi wrote in recommending Castellanos for the scholarship. “Despite all of these difficulties, he never complaints or even hints that anything is wrong; he simply keeps moving forward.”Castellanos continues on his progression. He is scheduled to graduate from Framingham State University with a double major in criminal justice and business. He plans to attend the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in the fall and do an internship with a federal law-enforcement agency. Between graduation and convocation at Northeastern, he will be working at a security services company in Boston.Castellanos said he hopes to see himself working on a gang task force or a drug unit in five years. He said he wants to work in an urban area and would love to settle in Lynn.”Being from Lynn was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Castellanos said. “It made me so diverse and able to appreciate the small things. In a city like Lynn, there are so