Aaron. Faces of the Festival 2019. Steven Meckler photo
“I started out as a handful as a child, dropped out of high school, got my GED when I was 21, you know? Kind of just livin’ life day to day, no real thought for the future. I was going through financial difficulties and went down to my bank for a loan. I had a specific banker I usually dealt with whenever I’d go to the bank. I was using the bank two or three times a week because I was running my own business at the time, so this banker knew my background and we talked when whenever I’d go. She’d been telling me all along, I needed to get myself back into school. And I was like, I will when I have more time, more money, you know, the usual procrastination. Finally, I was kind of desperate, probably in May or June of 2010, and I went in there and she told me, You’re never really going to get where you want to be if you don’t actually get yourself in school and get going. I said, You know what? It’s time I actually do something about this. So, I did. I went down that afternoon and took all the tests I needed to register for Pima Community College. I enrolled right then and there and started that following fall semester. I got out of that first semester with all As. I didn’t really expect to do that, because I was never a straight-A student. I mean, I had dropped out of high school for crying out loud! I About three semesters later, I got an invite to the international Honor Society, Phi Theta Kappa. If you want to really become an involved member, you do volunteer work. One of the first volunteer opportunities that came up was Tucson Meet Yourself. Every year I volunteered for Tucson Meet Yourself until I graduated. I actually graduated from Pima Community College with highest honors. It was a big deal for my family because I’d pushed through a lot of stuff to get where I wanted to be. After that I kept volunteering for Tucson Meet Yourself and stayed involved with the honor society, too. Eventually I was asked to come on board and work for Tucson Meet Yourself. I think my greatest accomplishment is getting myself an actual career and getting through college.”