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Draper • Bad decisions got them here, but on Wednesday several hundred inmates at the Utah State Prison celebrated one good decision that may help keep them from coming back: They graduated from high school.
In their brightly colored gold and royal blue gowns, the 340 graduates whooped and whistled and flipped their tassels from one side of their caps to the other as officials at the Canyons School District's South Park Academy presented the 2012 class to applause from friends, family, teachers and officers — their crimes perhaps not forgotten, but momentarily replaced by the promise of hope.
"I want to graduate, I want to have a high school degree, I want to be accomplished," said Amy Esguerra, 39, who dropped out of high school at age 16 after giving birth to the first of her six children.
After years of trouble brought on by drug use, Esguerra now believes successmay be possible. In addition to finishing her high school degree, Esguerra is among about 40 inmates who have taken the ACT test — she scored a respectable 19 — in preparation for college, where she'd like to work towards becoming a substance abuse counselor, once she completes her sentence six months from now.
Inmates heard encouraging messages from Corrections Director Thomas Patterson and former football star Jamal Willis, who played for Brigham Young University and the San Francisco 49ers, about shouldering responsibility while at the same time learning to forgive themselves and focus on positive change.
Willis said he toured the prison about a week ago and kept wondering, "Where's hope?"
"There is a lot of hope here," said Willis, who encouraged the graduates to be the kind of people who take hold of hope, use it to change their lives and then pass it on to others.
Student speaker Curtis Moton told fellow graduates he dropped out of school in ninth grade, "never understanding the magnitude of that decision." His life was a roller coaster from that point on, said Moton, the father of two boys.
Julie Arrowchis, also a student speaker, said she almost gave up after hitting one roadblock after another in pursuit of her degree over the past year.
But she kept after it, buoyed by the encouragement of her teachers. "This is our year of change," she said.
School officialsspecificallyrecognized three students for their accomplishments: Sandra Vinson, Schawn Fry and Richard Fisco, who at 75 was the oldest graduate to pick up his high school diploma.
"I'm 60 years late, but it's better than not getting one at all," said Fisco, who wept openly as he talked about dropping out of South High School after ninth grade shortly before he joined the Air Force and later completing a GED certificate. "My tears are tears of joy and happiness.
"Prison is not a fun experience. I really hate it," said Fisco, who is serving a sentence for child sex abuse. But, "I choose to be a good man and better myself every day."
Carolyn Rothwell came to cheer on her daughter, Casey Hughes, 29, who will complete her drug offense sentence July 3. While Rothwell's other six children have GED diploma's and successful lives, Hughes was the first to graduate from high school.
"I couldn't be more proud of her if she'd graduated from Yale," Rothwell said. "I'm so proud of her accomplishment."
As felons, graduates eligible for parole already face a stiff challenge getting viable jobs. But without a high school diploma or a GED dipolma, which about two dozen received Wednesday, it is that much tougher.
Sabrina Samora, 31, was all smiles after walking across the gymnasium to shake hands with school officials. She was on the chess club and softball team before dropping out of school in 9th grade. Samora became a meth addict, committing other crimes to pay for the drug. She landed in prison 18 months ago and will complete her sentence in 80 days — yes, she's counting.
Samora had a GED diploma but wanted the high school degree.
"It feels good," said Samora, who has already started taking college classes and would like to become an emergency medical technician.
Kaycee Scott, 24, told a similar story of a drug-fueled downfall. But her conversations with her son since entering the prison revolve around the fact that she's changing her life.
"He loves it that I was going to school," she said.
It may be too late for Jerry Vigil to make that kind of impression on his own sons, but he hopes to share a better example in the future with his grandsons.
Vigil, 38, is on his third trip to prison, a slide that began after he dropped out of West High School during his junior year and got into gangs, drugs and crime. He's cycled in and out of prison since he was 19, missing out on the lives of his five sons who are now grown.
"They're men and have kids of their own," Vigil said — a realization that finally served as a wake-up call for him.
"I'd like to be part of their kids' lives because I wasn't part of theirs," he said. "I'm done. I'm sick of this place."
And for the first time, he decided to take advantage of the programs aimed at helping inmates improve themselves and their odds of success back in society.
"It took all these years, but I love it," Vigil said. "I'm happy and I hope I can do something with it."
South Park Academy Class of 2012
On Wednesday, 249 men and 91 women graduated from South Park Academy, the Utah prison system's high school program. A second graduation is scheduled for June 20 in Gunnison at the Central Utah Correctional Facility.