CORE | Coalition for Residential Education

Michael Jones

If you had met me when I was ten years old, you would not have thought me different from any other boy. I grew up with my twin sister in an average, middle-class home. My father worked at the local post office and my mother worked in real estate. It is incredible the difference one year can make; by the time I was eleven, my world had begun to unravel.

My father had long been struggling with a mental illness, and it finally caught up with him that year. He had to quit his job. At the same time, a regional housing slump caused my mother to lose her job. The bills piled up, and my family had no source of income. We lost everything – the bank foreclosed on our home, our car was repossessed, and our family was torn apart by a failing marriage. Tumult seized my normal life. I learned not to expect the next meal, and lived on the move with my mother and sister.

My sister and I eventually went to live with our father, hoping that life would be a bit more stable. After my father relapsed into an on-going battle with mental illness, my sister and I lost the final traces of stability left in our lives. The absence of structure left us groping in the darkness until the weight of circumstance collapsed the imitation of home we had created. Teachers took notice and in a matter of weeks, their concern led to my subsequent removal from my father’s care.

In August 2004, I enrolled in Crossnore School in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina – it was my eighth move since my family’s struggles began. At Crossnore, I regained the stability most 14 year olds take for granted. I cherished the reality of three meals a day, and a secure and stable learning and living environment. I was surrounded by people who had a vested interest in my life, and began to discover that our pain and hurt is only a small fraction of who we are. Being around other kids who faced sordid problems was crucial in the healing process. Everyone had a sob story. I no longer had to hide who I was or focus on who I was not. I could think about the person I could be. I took the opportunity and moved on.

I worked hard in school and developed my interests in politics by organizing a student government at Crossnore. I took a summer to participate in a student program at Princeton University, where I was selected to introduce speakers including the U.N. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Sir Emory Jones, and the notable news anchor, Brian Williams, at the United Nations and the New York Public Library.

That summer experience deepened my political passion - a passion that spurred me to apply for an internship with Barack Obama’s campaign for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. I was one of few students selected for the highly competitive internship, the rest of which were almost entirely college juniors and seniors. I continued my internship into Nevada, and was later promoted to a staff position as a Field Organizer and eventually to a Deputy Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Director through state primaries in Texas, Mississippi, and Western North Carolina. As one of the campaign’s youngest paid staff members, I was honored to manage seasoned professionals, some nearly twice my age, and thrilled when we won all of our areas by a wide margin.

In 2008, I was named Student of the Year by CORE’s Catherine Hershey National Residential Education Awards. I currently am finishing my freshman year at New York University, where I am studying international affairs.

I would not be where I am today without the help and influence of the caring staff, teachers, and houseparents at Crossnore, particularly Dr. Phyllis Crain. What is so amazing is that for any other person, there are roadblocks to the things I have done and want to do. For me, these roadblocks just kind of disappeared and I am free to go where I want to go. Crossnore gave me these opportunities.

April 2009