Jed

This is my friend Jed. He's the reason I keep working in Student Services year after year. Jed comes from an incredible background, so I asked him today if I could photograph him for my journal. I'm hoping I get most the facts as true as possible from conversations I've had with him over the last year or so.

I first met Jed in my lobby after he learned in the summer of 2009 that his funding for schooling wouldn't be ready in time for him to start. I have to be honest and say that I never even expected him to enroll for fall based on first glances. But when fall came, and he was ready to go, I was amazed. Jed had been recently released from the prison system and was homeless for some time. He needed money not only to pay for his school bill but also for living.

My experience with people having backgrounds just like Jed's has not been positive in the least. Often times, the funding only goes as far as one term with them either returning to jail or disappearing all together.

Throughout the last school year, Jed faced several issues that I never expected him to make it through. The worst of which was loosing his access to food because of certain bureaucratic issues. Instead of giving up, he came to me, and we found a solution together. I've learned that as long as he is eating well and healthy, his body and mind work like clockwork. After spring term ended in June, he was again homeless for several weeks. Again he didn't give up and completed another term.

So Jed is all enrolled and set to go again this Fall term. He has successfully attended four full-time terms in a row. You can't imagine how proud I am of him. He writes constantly and told me today he is up to two full pages each day now. He leaves me copies of his work under my door, and I have kept them all. He is incredibly interested in sustainability and recycling. He mentions how he started recycling initiatives back in 1968-9 and has continued on that path throughout his life.

I shared my blipfoto link with Jed today and hope he does get a chance to see himself through my eyes. He's a 50 year old man who has faced every challenge and adversity you could imagine, yet he still perseveres and strives to have the best day, each day.

I can't wait to see him graduate. :)