‘You have to have hope’

Coming up to the day she had been waiting for, 21-year-old Michelle Harrison didn’t realize what a big deal it was until she received a text message telling her how proud her father was of her.

After living on the streets in Costa Mesa, becoming addicted to drugs and going in and out of jail, Harrison graduated from the Orange County Conservation Corps on Friday with a high school diploma, a job, money for college and two years of sobriety under her belt.

“I never thought I was going to make it,” Harrison said. “You have to have faith. You have to have hope.”

Her father, Ray Harrison, stepmother and grandfather came to the ceremony to celebrate with her.

“It’s a big deal. I’m very proud of her,” said Ray Harrison, who bought a video camera specifically for the occasion.

Harrison was one of 42 young adults, the corps’ largest class to date, to graduate in front of about 400 guests at the Doubletree Hotel in Anaheim. The Orange County Conservation Corps is a nonprofit organization working to get young adults, 18 to 25 years old, off the streets and away from gangs and drugs by providing them with environmental-based jobs that benefit the community and classes through the John Muir Charter School to earn their diplomas.

“One of the principles we operate on is we aren’t here to help these young men and women,” said Max Carter, the corps’ executive director. “We are here to provide an opportunity for them to help themselves.”

The organization was founded in 1993 in Anaheim and has since graduated more than 260 young adults, Carter said. The members provide a variety of conservation services like clearing burnt trees, cleaning out sewer drains, and picking up, sorting and recycling cans. One of the organization’s projects is through the Bolsa Chica Conservancy.

Corps members clear out weeds to reduce the fire hazard, sow indigenous plants to encourage fish and bird populations to inhabit the marine basin and clear out nonnative plants, said Kelly O’Reilly, an associate marine fisheries biologist with the State Department of Fish and Game.

O’Reilly said the work is labor-intensive, but for graduate Brendan Murphy, physical labor gave him a sense of accomplishment.

“I enjoyed any hard work. It makes me feel like I’m actually earning my money,” Murphy said.

The 22-year-old Newport Beach resident worked with the crews cleaning out burnt trees, having used his two years in the corps to get certified with a chain saw, as well as in CPR and first aid and with Planned Parenthood.

At the graduation ceremony, Murphy’s family cheered him on as he received his diploma. His father, David Baker, said it was the corps that gave his son hope in himself.

“I think it’s awesome. It motivates them. They take the people that have made mistakes . . . and give them a second chance,” Baker said.

Joining the organization is a second chance for many of its participants who were going down a path of drugs, gangs or extreme poverty. For Michelle Harrison, this wasn’t always the case. In high school, she earned good grades, went to school and didn’t get into trouble. She was on the path to being the first person in her family to graduate — then she had to move to Alaska to live with her mother.

After going back and forth between the last frontier and Costa Mesa, Harrison couldn’t keep up with school, started doing drugs when she was 18 and became addicted to meth. She was kicked out of her house and lived on the streets, moving from motel to motel, living in cars, apartments for rent and bumming a stay with friends for two years. She said she tried to go to school, but couldn’t do it and ended up in jail for drug possession.

After going to jail several times, Harrison couldn’t get a job. With no money, she lived off the Jack in the Box dollar menu and the meth her boyfriend supplied her with.

“When I was living on the streets I couldn’t stay sober. It was really hard for me,” Harrison said. “I was so young on the streets, and what kills me the most is that I felt so alone.”

The turning point for Harrison came when she was in rehab with her boyfriend. He urged her to apply to the corps so she could make something of her life. She joined in February 2008 and now doesn’t know where she would be if she hadn’t.

Harrison persevered through the long days — work from 6:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and then school until 4:45 p.m. Harrison managed to achieve her goal in 11 months through the corps independent study program. Harrison graduated with a $2,250 scholarship from AmeriCorps, a job working at T.J. Maxx in Costa Mesa and a plan to attend Santa Ana College.

With new doors open to them and on-the-job training under their belt, Orange County Asst. Sheriff Mike James reminded the graduates that today was just the start.

“Today shouldn’t be the end of something you’ve accomplished,” James said. “It should be the beginning of what you’re going to accomplish.”