Myron Woods, a health and human services student who had spent 30 years in prison, discovered education could do more than provide for him. It could help him provide for those who are often forgotten. “I want the skills to help people that no one else can help,” he said. “I want the knowledge to reach them in ways that see them where they are and reach out to them in a way that they will receive me.”

Being of Service

Myron’s journey from prison to pursuing a bachelor’s degree at UM-Dearborn begins in the pages of the books that came by his cell on a wagon every two weeks. “Books allowed me to forget that I was in prison,” he said. “I’d take the thickest book and a dictionary, so I could look up words I didn’t know, and I got lost in those books. All I had was time.”

With the years spent immersed in books, Myron’s reading and writing improved, and he found that these skills were appreciated by his fellow inmates. They needed help reading their letters from loved ones and writing back to them, so Myron helped them connect. While it paid him in packages of instant soup, a valued commodity, it also gave him opportunities to strengthen his reading and writing even further, and to develop a valued reputation as a service provider.

A Place to SOAR

Not long after Myron was released from prison, the COVID-19 pandemic was in full effect, complicating and eventually scuttling his initial attempts at higher education at Oakland Community College. On the other side of the shutdown, he was building community and attending an art exhibit in Hamtramck that featured prison artists through UM-Dearborn’s Inside Out Prison Exchange program. His friend Penny Kane, herself formerly incarcerated and then enrolled at UM-Dearborn, introduced him to Becky Richardson from UM-Dearborn’s SOAR Program, which works to increase access to higher education for non-traditional adult learners. Throughout the evening, Richardson encouraged Myron to consider enrolling at UM-Dearborn.

“I couldn’t see it,” he recalled. “I said, ‘I’m a guy out of prison, I can’t make that work. She said, ‘We have a program, the SOAR program, which is exactly for people who think they can’t.’ Everything started for me in that SOAR office. Since the first step I took in there, I haven't been the same.”

Getting and Giving Support

After all the necessary work to get Myron enrolled and in classes, reality hit. “I felt like I was the weakest link,” he said. “I had never seen a laptop and an iPhone before, so to see other students with laptops, books and iPhones, I was intimidated by that. I just kept waking up every day thinking it'll get better, it'll get better.”

In time, Myron’s confidence grew, and his outgoing personality and thoughtfulness created bonds with his fellow students. If he saw a student struggling, he would talk to them, tell them they could overcome whatever was holding them back, and encourage them to think of their future. “Myron is extremely empathetic,” said Samantha Hallman, a lecturer in the College of Education, Health, and Human Services. “He has experienced a number of hardships, things that might make some people angry or bitter, but they have made him more patient and caring of others.”

Myron’s fellow students started helping him as well. “They saw that I didn't understand something, and every chance they'd get, they were like, ‘Myron, sit down. We'll teach you how to copy and paste. We'll teach you how to read the syllabus. So, we end up helping one another. That was not the plan. It just happened. We all had something positive and something good to share with one another.”

Setting a Path

As Myron progressed through his studies, he had an opportunity to be part of a Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) project addressing the mental health of returning citizens from prison. It solidified his vision for himself, and that he could be a model for them to follow, and his work would be to ensure they had the help they needed.

“I knew that all the other returning citizens behind me would have the exact same struggles I did,” Myron said. “I also knew that a lot of them would get deterred from trying to do right once they faced those struggles, and I wanted to be the person to pull them out of that mindset. So that SURE research gave me a mission. It gave me something to want to be.”

Myron is already enrolled in a Master of Social Work program, and he intends to get his doctorate. His plan is to keep learning and to work to improve the lives of others, as others have worked to improve his. “I’m surrounded by people who help each other. I’m in heaven.”