Two Quehanna Boot Camp graduates reached out to provide updates on their reentry success.
The first graduated in Dec. 2020 and said while reentry hasn’t been easy, she is making the most of her second chance. She has an apartment for herself and her son, and she’s staying clean and sober. Her relationship with her mother is the best it’s ever been, and her relationship with her boyfriend is also strong. She said she is staying active and can knock out 100 sit-ups in two minutes.
“Doing the [QBC] program is the reason I am doing so well — it gave me self-confidence and discipline,” she said. “Thank you QBC, especially Sgt. MacTavish and Officer Jozefick for that tough love. I think and talk about all of you often.”
The second reentrant also graduated in Dec. 2020, and she said she had a great first year home. She is working full time at a local business and is engaged to be married. She bought a house and sees her daughters every other weekend.
While things haven’t been good with the father of her children, she said “…one thing I learned from Boot Camp, among other things, was to shut myself down and to not engage. I can proudly say I have kept my composure and haven’t given my ex-husband the satisfaction of any angry outbursts as he continues to just poke me. If anyone knew me, they’d know the old me would have been impulsive and just snapped, but my patience will go a long way and my faith that it will all work out in the end keeps me going.
“Despite everything that has happened and everything I had to go through to get where I am today, I am grateful for. I needed prison and boot camp in a sense that it straightened me out.
“Just so you know Quehanna changed my life in so many ways. I can’t even explain all the ways that it helped me just mentally and how I look at things in a new light, but I am really a better person for it. So thank you for pushing me in every aspect to better myself. I guess knowing you helped one person is good, right?”