TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - Bradley Higgs graduated Friday with honors from Owens Community College, but he was once homeless and in jail.
Higgs graduated with a degree in criminal justice, and was also the class representative speaker, but he's no ordinary guy.
Higgs made a conscious decision to turn his life around, and he has succeeded.
"It's all about the decisions and the choices that we make in life, you know," Higgs said. "I just got to a point in my life where I just decided to start making positive choices."
Higgs did not have an easy life. He was homeless by the age of 10, and thrown in jail at 19. But on Friday, family, friends and colleagues all turned up to watch him graduate.
"I think it's a lot of encouragement, and I think it really means a lot to my dad, that the family and friends could be here to support him," said Alisha Higgs, Bradley's daughter. "I just think he's really happy, and I'm really happy for him."
Higgs plans to attend the University of Toledo in the fall to earn a degree in social work. He says he wants to help others make a change for the better.
"I would like to work with juvenile offenders, you know, catch them while they are still at an impressionable stage, and just help them try to turn their life around with whatever I can bring to the table," Higgs said.
