The story of Gregory Williams is what California community colleges are all about. The 50-year-old former gang member whose history of substance abuse led to multiple prison terms over the past three decades credits Cuesta College for setting him on a path to a career as a counselor.
“Cuesta College gave me hope,” Williams said. “Cuesta College gave me an opportunity, an educational foundation. It’s given me guidance on how to navigate successfully through college and through life.”
Navigating through life, Williams said, had for too long been more of a burden than a blessing.
Born in South Central Los Angeles and raised mostly in Las Vegas, Williams became involved with gangs as a youth and was sent to juvenile hall for the first time when he was just 12 years old. For more than three decades, Williams’ life consisted of incarceration, release from prison, and back to prison on drug related offenses. Countless efforts to straighten out ended in frustration. “I’d do two years here or there, get out, mess up, and do two more years,” Williams said. “The last time I went in, I said to myself, ‘That’s it. I’m done. I’m not going back.’ I did everything I could to come out a totally different person than the person I was when I went in.”
The transformation came when Williams enrolled in a Culinary Certificate Program operated by Cuesta College while serving a five-year sentence at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.
“I wanted to go home with a skill, but to be honest, I was scared. I had never been to college before,” said Williams, who completed the program with straight-A’s and graduated in March of 2020. “My experience with Cuesta College proved to me that I was college material. I gained a lot of confidence. When I got out a couple months later, I decided to stay the course and go back to college.”
Cuesta was a no-brainer. “They believed in me,” he said. “I registered in the fall of 2020, got with some counselors who guided me, got set up with financial aid, and I enrolled full time.”
Williams, a year from earning an associate degree in addiction treatment studies through the Human Development/Human Services Program, has maintained a 3.95 grade point average, is active in the Associated Students of Cuesta College, and is a member of the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society. Meanwhile, Williams has strengthened his relationship with his two older children. One recently graduated from Howard University and is now attending law school; the other recently graduated from UC San Diego and is preparing to attend medical school. He lives with his two younger children, 4 and 5, who were being raised by his mom when he was in prison.
Recently certified by USA Mental Health First Aid as a youth mental health first aid responder, Williams hopes to transfer to California State University, San Bernardino, in the fall of 2022 for a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science. His ultimate goal: operating a family counseling center focused on reuniting and strengthening families dealing with challenges including substance abuse.
Those who know him well say they have no doubt he will succeed.
“Gregory is a model student who is passionate and engaging,” said Corinna Stolp, a CalWORKS/Foster Youth/EOPS and CARE counselor who works with and knows Williams well. “He is an extremely smart individual who shows up, asks lots of questions, commits the time needed – including getting up at 3 a.m. to do schoolwork – and uses the resources and opportunities available to him. I am so excited for his future as he will now be changing people’s lives for the better in his community.”
Said Williams: “If anything, I want my story to provide inspiration to people who are still hurting, who are still using drugs, who are still incarcerated,” Williams said.
