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Travon Willis: Well, growing up, my mom was on drugs. So my grandmother raised me and my three sisters. And my mom was kind of in and out of our lives. So it was difficult with not having her around. My father, he was not in my life as well. He went to prison when I was young, about two years old. And he died when I was 10, in prison. So not having him around was also tough. But my grandma, she was the backbone of the family. She held it together.

Venus Gist: Having circumstances where everyone can't have, in life, two parents in the household. And how do you survive that? And he did, having a grandmother who came in and gave him that parental guidance and love.

Travon Willis: I was always a good student. It's just like I caught up with the wrong crowd, hanging with the wrong people trying to fit in. You know, peer pressure as a teenager is tough. So I think about ninth grade, I took summer two months early and I never went back.

Kerry Salzer: Travon is someone who is a self-made. There's no doubt about it. He had a hard go when he was younger and went through some trying times. And then by the time we got to our school, he had turned things around and had the right plan, the right attitude.

Donya Willis: He's always been a hard worker. He had his own business landscaping and just doing a number of things, a number of jobs.

Travon Willis: I cam to Fremont Adult, signed up. And when I had my little orientation, a lady was like, what do you want to do? You want to get your GED or you want to get your high school diploma? And she said, if you get your GED, take you six months. If you want to get your diploma, it's going to take you about 2 and 1/2 years. And I was like, I want to get my high school diploma. I want the real deal.

Steven Giudici: He was taking advantage, very quickly, of every option that we developed for our students. We're very fortunate to have classroom-based instruction. He was coming to morning classes, afternoon, evening classes. We had a high school learning center, a self-paced learning environment. And he was taking advantage of that to accelerate his progress towards achieving his diploma.

Peggy Torres: When he came to us, his writing skills were a bit behind. He was really only a freshman in standing when he came. So he had, like, three years of high school work to do.

Donya Willis: It took him two years, but he did-- we had a lot of trials and tribulations. But he got through it.

Travon Willis: That early training at Fremont really prepared me and gave me the confidence I needed to know I could succeed on the next level. And from Fremont Adult, I went to Patten University, four years, got my bachelors in clinical psychology. And after that, I wanted to further my education so I applied to graduate school to a doctorate program.

Donya Willis: He's achieved a lot. He has a lot of awards from Patton University. And with him getting his diploma here, they wanted him to speak at the ceremony. They chose him. And he'd get different scholarships. He's doing good. And I just, I am very proud of him. He's a role model for the kids. And that's the number one thing I love about Travon being in school, because it affects our children.

Travon Willis: So I think me going back to school has tremendously affected my children, as well as my circumstances with my entire family I think it's been a blessing.

Peggy Torres: It's been really an honor and a privilege to work with him as a student and to see his success now.

Venus Gist: He's going to make a difference in a lot of people's lives. He is. I mean, a young, Black male with his doctorate degree helping his people and all people, it's very powerful. It doesn't happen every day.

Travon Willis: My advice for students coming into Fremont Adult, or any adult school for that matter, is just to be focused. Know what you want, know what you're after. This is going to better your life. This is going to better your family's life. And just know that you're accomplishing this for you. Nobody can ever take this away from you.

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