As told by Nick Kelly
Sitting in a classroom at Casa Roble High School in May 2012, I'm a thousand miles and a few years away from where I will be in May 2016.
It'll be a long journey, a winding path with peaks, valleys and every elevation in between. There will be early mornings on the football field, long afternoons in the classroom and late nights at the library.
Sometimes I’ll wonder if I’ll be able to get over the latest hurdle; if the tests I’m assigned in school will help me overcome the tests I’ve been given in life.
It’ll be a struggle.
And the struggle is the hardest way to learn. But it’s the best way to learn.
I always wanted to go college. I always knew I couldn’t afford it.
I started AVID, a college prep program, in middle school and was involved with it in for six years all the way through the end of high school. This was my home base and everyone I hung out with always talked about going to college, being successful, reaching higher.
AVID’s where I learned many of the skills that would help me get to May 2016, including time management, study techniques, organization, and note taking. I had one teacher in particular, Melissa Camillari, who, along with mom, has been the biggest influence on me academically.
Education is the key to a successful life, they both would always tell me.
But how was I going to get there?
My house was foreclosed on during the final semester of my senior year of high school in the spring of 2012, so I moved in with my aunt and uncle because they were the closest family members to my school. Another hurdle, another test.
I applied to a few schools and was accepted, but I couldn’t afford to go. I had one partial scholarship offer to Humboldt State, but I was still going to be on the hook for more money than I had. Hurdle, test.
Jon Osterhout, who is now the head coach at American River College, was ARC’s offensive line coach at the time and he convinced me that I could play at the Div. I level. Like AVID, he believed in me and wanted me to reach higher.
That fall I enrolled at ARC, and my mom and I moved into a one-bedroom place in downtown Sacramento. I used the skills I learned from her and AVID, and excelled in my first semester at junior college.
Then Arizona State offered me a full scholarship. I was going to college.
My first class in Tempe I walked into hundreds of people packed in a huge lecture hall. My time commitment toward football was going to be greater than ever. Overwhelmed would be an understatement.
Take notes. Turn in your assignments on time. Study for the tests. Manage your time and be organized. That’s what my mom and AVID taught me.
Their lessons worked, as they always have, and I’ve been lucky to be recognized with a number of awards for the effort I put toward academics, including two-time Pac-12 All-Academic, semifinalist for the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award, a National Football Foundation Valley of the Sun College Coach’s Honorable Mention Scholar Athlete, and a member of the NFF Hampshire Honor Society.
But these awards aren’t about me. They represent my mom, my girlfriend, my coaches, and everyone in AVID. They were there for the hurdles and the tests, and they were there to help me overcome them.
Has it been hard? Of course. But you have to get it done. It’s just something you have to do. If you’re going to do something, you put effort into doing it. That’s the only way I know.
And now I’m moments away from becoming the first person in my family to graduate from a four-year university before the age of 25. And I’m going to do it with no debt.
School reflects life – how are you going to live your life? Are you going to just go through the motions and hope something good happens? Will you complain every step of the way and always ask why? Or will you put your head down, look for purpose in every action you take, find positivity in the obstacles, and create your own future?
I know which route I’m taking. And I know where I’m going to end up.