Seven years ago, Joseph Valadez was just finishing up a year living at the Salvation Army, where he was putting in the hard work of getting and staying sober. He had been in and out of prison for almost all of his adult life, with most of the crimes related to his addiction to drugs and alcohol, and he only had one strike left before the state of California locked him up and threw away the key. In order to keep his housing, he could get a job in construction or enroll in college. He chose to enroll at Orange Coast College.

 

“I started doing drugs from a young age, and at 18 I began using barbiturates and shooting heroin. I continued using drugs for over 30 years,”  says Joseph Valadez, an Orange County native and United States Army veteran. 

In 2013, three months shy of his 55th birthday, a childhood friend Valadez had been living with kicked him out and told him to get help. He found himself homeless and with very few options. What’s more, Valadez had accumulated a long rap sheet, doing time in prison for burglary, possession and selling drugs. He already had two strikes under the “Three Strikes” law in California, and he knew that one more conviction would put him away for at least 25 years. “I just got tired of it all,” he says. 

With no insurance, Valadez struggled to find a rehab facility that would accept him. He finally made his way to the Salvation Army's Adult Rehabilitation Center in Anaheim, where he began the arduous process of getting sober. “I’m a product of the Salvation Army,” he says. “Something magical happens when you surrender to that place.”

After living at the Salvation Army for nine months, Valadez’s counselor told him that he found more permanent housing through a homeless veterans program, with the rent covered for two years, but there was a catch: get a job or enroll in college. At first, Valadez said he would get a job in construction, an industry he had previously worked in. “You’re too old,” his counselor told him. “Have you thought about going to school?” The counselor, an Orange Coast College alumni himself, advised Valadez to check out the Costa Mesa campus. 

That’s how Joseph Valadez, in the Summer of 2014, found himself enrolled at OCC as a first-time college student who hadn’t worn a backpack filled with school books and supplies since 1976. There was a learning curve that first summer, but once the fall started, Valadez got into the swing of things. “I loved going back to school,” he says. “Once the full semester started I thought ‘I got this.’” 

If there was one area of academia that tested Valadez’s resolve to get his degree, it was math. After scoring low on his math placement test, he was put in the lowest level of remedial math at OCC, and spent an extra three semesters at the College finishing his math requirement. “I was determined to get that damn degree,” he says cheerfully. “There were times I was frustrated and  I really wanted to quit. But I had such a good support system.” 

Much of that support came from student services programs at OCC, like the Student Success Center, which offers free tutoring to all students in English and math, and the Extended Opportunities Programs and Services (EOPS) office, a catch-all program that supports low-income students by connecting them to resources to help them with basic needs. 

Valadez also found a steady support system in the Veterans Resource Center and through his academic counselor, who specialized in guidance for veterans. “I was proactive in my education. I tell people that’s the secret,” he says. “I spent a lot of hours in the writing center, double that in the math center.” 

“I feel this with all my heart. OCC is set up the way it’s set up for a person not to fail. If you have the desire, you’ll pass.” 

When Valadez graduated in 2019, he had two Associates degrees under his belt, in history and sociology, as well as a 3.1 GPA. He was accepted to California State University, Long Beach, to study sociology. At CSULB, Valadez found the same supportive learning environment that he had experienced at Coast. “Cal State Long Beach is a lot like OCC, just on a bigger scale,” he says.  

In January, at the age of 62, Valadez completed his studies at CSULB, not only earning a Bachelor’s degree in sociology, but also making the “President’s Honor List” for achieving straight A’s during his last two semesters. 

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He has applied for the master’s program in social work at Cal State Long Beach, after which he hopes to begin a career specializing in helping at-risk youth. His story went viral after he posted graduation photos on social media, and he’s even heard from Diane Feinstein’s office, with the California Senator offering to write him a letter of recognition. 

More than anything, Valadez is hoping that his story will inspire people to give formerly incarcerated individuals a chance. “Society pins labels on certain segments of our population, and people who have been incarcerated are often labeled as ‘losers.’ I’d like to break that stigma that’s been attached to us,” he says. “All my life, everything that I’ve done, I’ve copped to. I have faced the music. But I paid my debt, and I’m trying to be a productive member of society.” 

Valadez also wants people to understand that he could not have accomplished his goals without the help of many people whose support he is extremely grateful for. 

“My whole experience, at both OCC and Cal State Long Beach, was beautiful. I have nothing but beautiful memories at both schools,” he says. “God put people in my life to help me along in my journey, I really think that’s true. And I’m thankful.”  

 

*photos taken by Miguel De La Rosa