{"id":28625,"date":"2017-05-09T04:35:35","date_gmt":"2017-05-09T04:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=28625"},"modified":"2017-05-09T04:35:35","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T04:35:35","slug":"former-queens-gang-member-prison-inmate-set-graduate-columbia-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/former-queens-gang-member-prison-inmate-set-graduate-columbia-university.html","title":{"rendered":"Former Queens gang member and prison inmate set to graduate from Columbia University"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFormer Queens gang member and prison inmate set to graduate from Columbia University<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/h2>\n

\n\tRichard Gamarra’s long trip from inmate to the Ivy League ends next week with a master’s degree — in redemption.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe former Latin King gangbanger, after seven years behind bars for assault and weapon convictions, graduates May 17 from Columbia University’s renowned Mailman School of Public Health.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe never imagined swapping a prison jumpsuit for the university’s iconic blue cap and gown — but his dreams are coming true.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“When there’s a will, there’s a way,” said a beaming Gamarra as he walked around the prestigious Morningside Heights campus last week. “This is historic for me. It’s very humbling. I won’t believe it until I have that diploma in my hands.”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 28-year-old Gamarra, after earning his master’s in public health, paused for a minute to admire the bronze “Alma Mater” sculpture outside Low Memorial Library.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBeating the odds for admission and completing the grueling work was a long shot from the start. But graduate-to-be Gamarra said he intends to use his degree to steer others away from the missteps that landed him in the clutches of the state prison system.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“I don’t want my past to define me,” he said. “I want to undo that stigma of being in prison. I know there are a lot of other Richards out there.”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGamarra reflected on the difficulties of growing up in Flushing, Queens, as the youngest of five Colombian immigrant children.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe succumbed to peer pressure, joining the Latin Kings in high school and warring frequently with their rival street gangs<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“I was a bad kid,” he recalled with a bittersweet smile. “I was getting beat up a lot. I knew I needed a weapon to defend myself.”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe was carrying a loaded 9-mm. handgun in his book bag when cops were summoned to Holy Cross High School in Flushing by an anonymous 911 call back in December 2004.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 16-year-old Gamarra, who had no prior arrests, was busted for criminal possession of a weapon. “That didn’t change me,” he says now. “I got assaulted and I assaulted back. I kept getting into trouble.”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHis gang activity finally landed him in prison at age 19.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“I was still involved in gangs,” he recalls of his time behind bars. “I was in a dark place. It was rough.”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHis fortunes began to turn in 2011 when he met Robert Fullilove, a Columbia professor teaching public health to inmates at the upstate Woodbourne Correctional Facility.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGamarra enrolled in the class after spending some time in solitary confinement.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGamarra’s intellect caught Fullilove’s interest from day one.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“A couple of good students always stand out,” the Columbia professor recalled. “I told him, ‘Come to Columbia. I’ll make it happen.’ ”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe odds were still pretty stiff, but he applied and made it.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“He’s unique. He’s become a role model,” Fullilove said. “He’s a standout.”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGamarra said Fullilove gave him hope that turning his life around could include becoming a good father to his now-10-year-old daughter, Izabella.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAn emotional jailhouse visit from his little girl persuaded Gamarra to accept the professor’s offer.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“She was confused,” he said. “She was like, ‘Why can’t I sit with you? Why can’t I hug you? Why are you on the other side of this glass?’<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“I remember a 4-year-old trying to squeeze through this 12-by-5 slot, trying to get to me. That really broke me. I said to myself, ‘I need to go home to that girl.’ ”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe was released Nov. 13, 2013, and Gamarra quickly called his old teacher about that offer to enroll at Columbia.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGamarra received a bachelor’s degree in public health and health education from the City University of New York in 2015. He enrolled at the Mailman School that fall.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“For me, education rehabilitated me,” Gamarra said about his unlikely college career. “I said, ‘I’m going to take it and I’m going to run with it.’ ”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe admits there was trepidation in the early days.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“I never thought people would accept someone like me here. I was worried,” he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut now, trying on his cap and gown, Gamarra engages in a bit of repartee with a group of high school seniors visiting the campus.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“We want to come here. We want to be you!” some of them yelled.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“You can be me one day!” he shouted back. “Just don’t be like the me in high school.”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tGamarra, who wants to use his public health degree to teach and counsel inmates, said he’s motivated to succeed because of his daughter. She was diagnosed with brain cancer the year after his prison release and is now in remission.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“With her strength, positivity and recovery, as well as with this degree, we are both on track to making the world a better place,” he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSource:- http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/new-york\/queens-gang-member-finds-redemption-columbia-degree-article-1.3145934<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t