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T en years ago, Tommy Alejandrez had recently developed a meth addiction and was on his way to becoming homeless. Today, he's a sober Cabrillo gradu- ate who will attend UC Santa Cruz in the fall on a $20,000 scholarship. Born and raised in Fresno, Alejandrez did not consider college when weighing his fu- ture. It was not an option discussed in his house- hold or in his friend group, which he called "the wrong crowd." Without the resources to determine what a solid next step could be, Ale- jandrez became a drug addict who ultimately sold his own supply. "I was thrown out of my apartment because I lost everything," he said. "It sounds cliche, but I was my own best customer." Alejandrez began going to stores and boosting, or keeping his backseat full of meth to sell to random people at retail locations. After he got caught a few times, a judge told him if he pulled the act again he would be sent to prison. "That scared me," Alejandrez admitted. "I knew I needed to figure something else out." He made a sign that day that read, "At 39, I lost my home. At 40, I picked up a Sharpie and some cardboard." He continued to smoke meth, sitting out in pub- lic where people calcu- lated how much money he had for the day to support his habit. "Ordinary people don't know that the homeless prey on the homeless," he said. "Doing that put a target on me… I would have to change locations and hide from certain individuals. Out there I was beat up, robbed, held at gunpoint and at knifepoint. Things that you don't even see in the movies happen out there." Turning his life around In Fresno, the winters offer what locals call "valley fog." Condensa- tion wets every surface and person left in the cold. After crying while holding his sign to get enough change for a 99 cent burger, Alejan- drez knew he had had enough. "I couldn't do it any- more, my hands were freezing," he said. "I reached out to my dad who stuck me at Si Se Puede (Yes We Can) here in Watsonville." While recover- ing through one of Encompass Commu- nity Services' programs, Alejandrez found out about the Academy for College Excellence, bet- ter known as the ACE program, at Cabrillo College. It was shortly after the Latino man had found out that all his years of drug use had yielded an HIV-positive test result. "That really was the turning point," he said. "A light turned on… I thought, 'Well, I've messed my life up this badly. Let's try some- thing different.' Obvi- ously, it wasn't different. I needed to try to love myself, which was some- thing I didn't know how to do." After more than six years, Alejandrez earned Associate's degrees in human services, liberal arts and sciences and sociology. For the first time, he was receiving praise regularly for the work he was submitting. Alejandrez learned to trust their feedback and know that it was genu- ine. "The instructors were always behind me. They always told me, 'You can do it. It's not easy, but you can do it,'" he said. A trip to UC Berkeley for an event sponsored by the Underground Scholars Initiative, an educational opportunity program for formerly incarcerated and system impacted individu- als, sealed the deal for Alejandrez that Cabrillo would not be his last stop. He met someone who was in prison for more than a decade and was near completion of a Master's degree. "I didn't know there was something more… I believed in myself more. I was (accepted) into UC Santa Cruz and I thought, OK, cool.' Then I heard back from UC Davis, and then UC San Diego and eventu- ally UC Berkeley and I was like, 'Wow, I am smart," he said of being accepted into all four universities. "I'm just on a natural high right now." Alejandrez was a stu- dent ambassador for the Underground Scholars initiative at Cabrillo fol- lowing his introduction to the initiative. Once a semester, he and his colleagues hosted Barrios Unidos, a youth violence prevention organization that offers a look at alternatives to a life of crime to at-risk youth and re-entered residents. "They have a mock prison trailer," he explained. "Seeing stu- dents go into that trailer and (seeing) them come out… (you can tell) it really affects them. It's powerful." Giving back At UC Santa Cruz, Alejandrez will take his personal and academic experiences and pair them with his Latin Stud- ies and sociology major to come out the other end as a community servant. He shared that vision publicly, as he was asked to speak during this year's online com- mencement ceremony because of his tremen- dous progress. "I don't know what I want to do other than help people. I'm not sure in which category, addiction or homeless- ness," he said. "I just want to show them that it can be done." Alejandrez won't be alone in his High Street dorm. He'll be moving his father onto campus next month with him as he receives mentor- ing, academic support and assistance finding summer work as a Karl S. Pister Leadership Op- portunity Award winner, a full-circle moment. "My dad went down to Fresno to help me. Since then, he has sepa- rated from his (partner). He's been living in a broken-down 1980s RV for the last three years, not because of drugs or (alcohol). He's been sober for 15 years," Alejandrez said. "But we just went to the doc- tor yesterday; with the damage he's done to his liver, they gave him less than two years to live yesterday." With an irreversible condition, it will be hard- er for the future Banana Slug's father to care for himself. "He calls me and asks how many days now?" Alejandrez said of their own personal count- down to the move. "His liver condition affects his memory. It just feels so cool to be able to help him. This would not have been possible if he never went down and got me." From addiction to graduation address: Cabrillo alumnus beats the odds By Melissa Hartman mhartman@santacruzsentinel.com Tommy Alejandrez, second from right, stands with his friends from the Forgotten Scholars club atCabrillo after coordinating a mock prison trailer exhibit with Barrios Unidos. Forgotten Scholars is a club composed of formerlyincarcerated or system impacted students. (Courtesy of Tommy Alejandrez) Tomas "Tommy" Alejandrez holds his emotional support animal in front of the Cabrillo Collegeentrance sign at graduation time. (Courtesy of Tommy Alejandrez)