Joel Garcia, 17, got a reality check from his Communities in Schools counselor, Ericka Gallardo, as his life went from average teen to gang member. Garcia was recently honored as a CIS Hero for turning his life around with help from CIS at Live Oak Academy. He is now graduating on time, helping to raise a daughter, and prepared to join the Texas National Guard. His photograph will appear in a national advertising campaign this summer. (Photo by Jim Cullen)
CIS Hero
Communities in Schools, a dropout-prevention program offered by counselors in Hays CISD schools, has selected three area Central Texas CIS students as heroes.
The CIS Hero program recognizes a student who, with the program’s assistance, has overcome adversity to succeed academically.
These students will represent the more than 1.4 million CIS students in a national advertising campaign.
Here is one story of a student at Hays CISD’s Live Oak Academy High School who is a CIS hero.
by KIM HILSENBECK
Going from flashing gang signs and starting fights to writing rap lyrics and raising a daughter, Joel (pronounce Jo-el) Garcia, 17, is considered a CIS hero.
This Live Oak Academy senior said he traveled a rough road to get where he is today. And he credits Communities in Schools counselor Ericka Gallardo for much of his transformation from “gangsta” to graduating senior and future Texas National Guardsman.
Joel said he used to have the attitude ‘It’s my life – I don’t care what you think.’
“I did what I wanted,” Joel said.
What he wanted to do included using and selling drugs, fighting and protecting his gang’s turf from rivals.
It’s hard to imagine this soft-spoken young man in that life. Today, he is wearing a black T-shirt with blue jeans frayed at the cuff, a black ball cap backward on his head. He sports a mustache and goatee.
He was 11 when he first got involved with a gang.
Joel said gangs use younger kids who are less likely to be caught with drugs.
At 14, Joel and five others started their own gang, complete with signs and colors. Joel said most of the activity was in San Marcos and Austin.
Once his mom and stepdad found out, they told him he was going nowhere if he was in a gang.
“There was a lot of drama going on in my life,” Joel said.
His father, who left when Joel was three years old, is serving a 10-year prison sentence. Joel felt there was no one else to talk with or protect him – except his gang brothers.
“Talking with Ms. Gallardo really opened my eyes,” Joel said. “It was a reality check. I finally felt like someone really cares about me and wants to listen.”
CIS counselors help troubled students navigate many issues, including poverty, broken homes, homelessness, hunger, abuse, drug use and gang involvement.
Joel’s story has several of those elements.
He was extremely hesitant to talk when he first came to Gallardo’s office two years ago.
“I used to listen to my iPod and not say anything,” Joel said.
He wouldn’t talk when she asked him questions.
His mother took him to other counselors in the past, but Joel said it just didn’t work out.
“I get real defensive. I’m known for hitting walls when I’m mad,” Joel said, showing a two-inch scar on his knuckle from such an incident.
One thing that was different than in the past, Joel said, was impending fatherhood.
“We started getting threats about the baby, that some other gang was going to kill her,” Joel said quietly. He paused, “I didn’t want to bring her into that world.”
Joel and his then girlfriend applied to Live Oak Academy – an alternative, self-paced high school.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Joel says, “but the drama slowed down once I got here.”
Gallardo said Joel has grown so much since he’s been in CIS.
“He was closed off and distrusting. Now he knows that it’s okay to ask for help,” Gallardo said. “Joel has always had leadership qualities, but may not have been given the right opportunity to use them for something positive.”
Joel told his gang he was leaving.
“They were mad,” Joel said, “because once you’re in, it’s supposed to be for life.”
But starting a family was a way out.
Joel says his gang brothers beat him up to pay for the betrayal of leaving.
On the day his daughter was born about 13 months ago, Joel threw away his bandanas.
He also said rap music pulled him out of gang life.
“Music helps me relax,” Joel said.
He started writing lyrics. He’s now president of the Hip Hop Congress, Live Oak Chapter.
Joel credits Gallardo with helping him become a CIS hero.
“She wrote my story,” Joel said.
That story earned Joel the chance to be part of a national advertising campaign for CIS partner Proctor and Gamble.
Joel will appear in the August “Brandsaver,” distributed in newspapers to 57 million American homes.
“It’s a real honor for me,” Joel said.
Joel said his future is looking up. He’s enlisting in the Texas National Guard this summer. His home life is better, though he does not live with his mom and stepdad. He misses his sisters.
Joel said he doesn’t miss gang life but thinks about it sometimes.
“This 13-year old kid wanted to be part of our gang. I kept telling him no, don’t, you can’t get involved.”
Joel said that boy was shot three times and killed by a rival gang in San Marcos three years ago.
“I miss him – he was like a little brother,” Joel said.
