实现发射
雷蒙德·豪格陷入了毒瘾、无家可归和入狱的恶性循环. With the help of scholarships and a campus community, 他改变了自己的生活，在机械工程领域找到了自己的职业.
The last time Raymond Haug got out of prison, 2016年6月, he had no friends or family waiting to pick him up. He had no new clothes to change into. All he had was his state-issued prison sweatsuit, a brown paper bag with his housing voucher paperwork, and a faint glimmer of hope.
A prison guard dropped him off at Everett Station, 他坐在前面的长凳上回忆他多年的流浪生活, 上瘾, crime and incarceration. Fighting intense shame and doubt, 他考虑着摆在他面前的宏伟目标:保持清醒，接受教育.
然后他站起来，走向埃弗雷特社区学院(EvCC)申请入学.
生活的改变
Seven years later, Haug has transformed his life. 他最近获得了BB电子机械工程学士学位, completing two SpaceX internships along the way. 他现在是华盛顿州交通部的一名运输工程师, 他将开始西澳大学 master’s program in mechanical engineering 2024年秋天. 他的妻子阿尔西娅(Althea)刚刚在BB电子完成了她的硕士学位. They have two young children.
Respected by his professors and peers, 豪格获得了几项奖学金，使他有可能在EvCC和BB电子接受教育. “The scholarships have meant more than anything to me,豪格说。. “The awards make me feel like I do belong in school. It’s helped me live the life I’m living now.”
Raymond Haug, ’23, in the Mechanical Engineering machine shop
但“老雷”——他对过去的自己的称呼——将永远是他的一部分. Because of his prison time, 豪格的公寓租赁申请从未获批，求职也屡遭拒绝. When he used a computer at the EvCC welcome center to apply, he half-expected security to escort him out.
“Coming from the world I did, recovering from 上瘾,他说, “my brain still tells me I don’t deserve the life I’m living.”
“The scholarships have meant more than anything to me,豪格说。. “The awards make me feel like I do belong in school. It’s helped me live the life I’m living now.”
Haug shares his story to remind others that “change is possible.”
When he started college, Haug felt he had to hide his past. But when an EvCC professor, seeing his talent for math and chemistry, urged him to apply for a job in the tutoring center, 豪格不得不和人力资源部坐下来仔细BB电子他的毒瘾和犯罪史的每一个细节. It was painful and nerve-wracking, 但他对康复和学业成功的承诺给HR留下了深刻的印象. He got the job — and saw the value of sharing his story.
打破循环
When Haug was 5, his father died of a drug overdose. As a teen, Haug was in and out of juvenile detention. At 15, he was sleeping under Montlake Bridge. He held up cardboard signs on the street corner and worked odd jobs. But as his heroin 上瘾 progressed, 他走上了犯罪的道路, receiving the first of several robbery sentences when he was 18. 于是开始了一个残酷的循环:监禁、释放、再犯、再监禁.
年后, 当他发现自己被关在同一个单独监禁的牢房里连续服刑两周, 突然间，我灵光一闪:“我决定，如果我要振作起来, I had to do so in prison — not when I was back out on the street.”
In a drug treatment course in prison, Haug learned of the Post-Prison Education Program (PPEP)，这是一个帮助前囚犯接受高等教育的非营利组织. 2018年由美国司法部资助的一项BB电子发现，参加过惩教教育的人在三年内重返监狱的可能性降低了48%. But it wasn’t just that for Haug. 这是重塑自我的前景，发现他不知道自己拥有的才能.
PPEP helped him get his college financial aid application in order. 然后他被释放了.
Haug’s custom-built motorcycle
你 可以
没过多久, Haug was living in sober housing, volunteering with Narcotics Anonymous (NA), enrolled at EvCC and working as a tutor. He also taught himself how to fix up cars and motorcycles. One day in chemistry class, 豪格向他的教授展示了他正在制造的一辆摩托车的照片——一辆完全定制的硬尾摩托车.
“He was like, ‘Why aren’t you an engineering major?’”豪格回忆道. “But I had never heard of engineering. I didn’t know what it was.当豪格发现了工程学所需要的一切后，他很兴奋地把它作为自己的专业.
豪格的同学和教授越认可他的才能，他就越开放. 他开始申请并获得奖学金，每次都多分享一点自己的背景. Then he told his story as a speaker at a scholarship breakfast. 他记得当时的感觉，有 支持他的听众听着他说的每一个字.
“I was crying the whole time,豪格说。. “我很感激能受到那些没有蹲过监狱的同龄人的尊重. The impact they had — all they had to do was tell me, ‘You 可以.’”
“I practically lived in the machine shop,豪格说。, 他很快就开始充分利用自己在BB电子的学习经历.
LAUNCHPADBB电子
当豪格把目光投向大学时，他获得了大学奖学金 Martin Family Foundation Achievement Scholarship, 面向希望在BB电子完成学士学位的华盛顿州社区学院学生. Then he got the good news that he’d been accepted to the UW.
Haug被这所大学强大的机械工程专业所吸引 UW Formula Motorsports Team这是一个设计、制造电动方程式赛车并参加比赛的学生组织. 他希望这能成为他实习的起点，为他的职业生涯奠定基础.
Haug’s first year at the UW was in the midst of the pandemic, and while his classes were online, 他和方程式车队的其他学生“几乎住在机械车间里”.
“As a transfer student, 你有一半的时间和你的大学建立关系,豪格说。. “方程式车队付出了巨大的回报，让我觉得自己是学校的一部分.”
It also paid dividends in experience, helping him land two internships with spacecraft company SpaceX, where he worked on the pressurized ground systems team. Haug brought his problem-solving to the forefront there, 解决编码问题，帮助安装管道和控制面板. “我的背景符合他们希望培养的发散思维，”他说. “I’m a good fit because I’ve had to be so adaptive my whole life.”
“Coming from the world I did, recovering from 上瘾, my brain still tells me I don’t deserve the life I’m living.”
改变是可能的
Haug was thrilled to help build ships that go to space, but he’s equally committed to making a difference on Earth, helping others find their way to a brighter future.
豪格教他的朋友韦德如何使用嘴控电脑鼠标
举个例子:豪格为他的朋友韦德设计了一款口控电脑鼠标, who’s paralyzed from the neck down from a gunshot wound. 豪格把老鼠带给他后，他留下来帮韦德申请社区大学. 豪格还计划给韦德做一个用嘴操作的喷漆附件，这样他就可以创作自己的艺术了.
豪格还喜欢在全国律师协会做志愿者，并指导参与刑事司法系统的青年. Last October he spoke at a conference for STEM-OPS, which works to include STEM learning opportunities in prison. “It’s my responsibility to help,他说. “如果我不帮助我身后的人，那还有什么意义呢??”
That’s why he continues to share his story. 豪格说:“我过去所做的一切和我现在所做的一切——它们并不排斥彼此。. “So I hope that when you see someone holding a sign on 45th Street, you know that that was me, and you’ll remember that change is possible.”
Haug and his family take the stage at his 2023 graduation. 摄影:Matt Hagen.
梦想成真
6月11日, 雷蒙德·豪格(Raymond Haug)在机械工程专业的毕业典礼上，牵着三岁女儿的手，另一只手抱着19个月大的儿子，在热烈的掌声中大步走过舞台. His daughter reached out and accepted his diploma for him. It was the first time Haug had ever walked in a graduation.
“My world was so small when I started going to college,” Haug says. “I wouldn’t have been able to predict where I’d be right now. I didn’t think it was in the cards for me.”
作为一名新工程师，豪格很感激他在BB电子学到的一切. His advice: Show up and stay open to possibility. 他说:“你不需要知道自己将来会成为律师、医生还是经济学家。. “Just sign up for some classes. I promise your world will expand.”
Jamie Swenson报道. Originally published September 2023.
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