Chris & Tyler

Purposeful Resolve

Chris and Tyler, two of the Adult Learning Center GED graduates this Spring, are from very different worlds, but they’ve arrived at SEARCH with the same purposeful resolve.They each are finishing school to make a better impact in the lives of others.

Chris, 24 years old, grew up with few people he could count on.His dad was incarcerated for 10 years from the time Chris was seven years old.Chris got good grades, but quickly got bored with school and got into trouble.By 13, Chris was in and out of alternative schools.By 19, he’d fathered two children.His loneliness led him to join a gang and the troubles of that existence.The tattoos on his face and arms are the visible reminders of those days.

But Chris is a man with new resolve.Focused on changing his life, he wants to show that he has initiative, and that he can be the good father and role model that he never had.

Tyler grew up in Oklahoma, raised by his grandparents while his single mom struggled to make ends meet working as a waitress.Granddad always emphasized the importance of education. Nonetheless, at 15, Tyler dropped out of school. Challenged by his teenage angst and rebellious behavior, Tyler’s mother sent him to a psychiatric hospital to be diagnosed and treated.After the hospital stay, Tyler ran away. He got into drugs and hung out with the wrong crowd.After two years of being high, Tyler woke up and decided to make a change.

Tyler currently lives in a halfway house. Obtaining the mental health treatment he needs and maintaining his sobriety, he’s focused on starting college in the Fall with the goal to become a counselor for at-risk youth. Tyler reveals his biggest challenge to be “Myself.I want to help others like me, so I stay focused on the future and don’t let the past get in the way.”