About Me Ramirez, Nazario (2009-08-17) >>INTERVIEWER: So first tell us what is your name? >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: Nazario Ramirez Jr. >>INTERVIEWER: And why are you here today? How did you end up here? Tell us a story about you, about you and education, how you ended up here. >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: Awhile back I used to smoke a lot of weed. Me and my homeboy right there, we went and traveled. We walked and hitchhiked all the way to Kentucky, and we saw some beavers on the way. Then I got back and I did some stupid stuff that I got put in jail for. McSmellyDoo McGee right there, my teacher in jail, was able to get into my head, you know, to do what I had to do. [Nazario Laughs] >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: As soon as I got out I – what do you call it? – I took my GED and passed it on the first try. Now I am headed to college, about to go to Columbus State for Engineering. I have turned my life around. So, yeah. >>INTERVIEWER: It was when you were incarcerated that you started valuing education? >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: Yes. >>INTERVIEWER: Now you are interested in something like that? >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: Yes. >>INTERVIEWER: So you said you wanted to go into engineering? What made you want to go into engineering? >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: Well, I love math and I love science and I love to build stuff. Basically, I just feel like I really would do good in an engineering field because I think I am pretty smart. [Lazario Laughs] >>INTERVIEWER: Okay, so five years ago would you have expected this is where you would be right now? >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: No, actually no. Five years ago, no. I never expected to even make it to a GED diploma. >>INTERVIEWER: Did you not like to do school when you were growing up? >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: No, I always skipped school and everything, you know, never paid attention and I would go to sleep. I never really paid attention in any kind of class except for math and science, which I love. But everything else was just like “Ah, boo!” Yeah, I think that is why I could be a really good engineer because I love when two subjects equate a lot, you know, just a lot. >>INTERVIEWER: What do you think is the biggest cause for change in your attitude towards school. >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: Well, I want to be successful and I also did it for my girlfriend, who asked me to be successful in life. She didn't want somebody that would be living from check to check. Right now, I am working landscaping and it is really hard. It seems to be on a lawnmower all day but it is really not and it is a big responsibility because if you mess it up they charge you for it. Every day I will come home and I will be so tired, don't want to know anything of what is going on in the outside world. Basically, I learned that I don't want to be no laborer. I want to be one of the people that sit at a computer and types, draw and stuff. I am going to try and get my Mechanical Engineering and my Systems, just the regular computer animation systems. >>INTERVIEWER: So you are starting at Columbus State then? >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: Yeah. >>INTERVIEWER: When do you start? >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: September, I start in September. >INTERVIEWER: And do you want to transfer to Ohio State? >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: Yeah. See I was about to go to National College but I checked the curriculum at Ohio State and they said most of the credits won't even transfer. So I said, you know, “That's whack.” I want a school that is going to transfer my credits not just part of them because I want all my credits. If I took classes for those I want all of them. At Columbus State they said that they would transfer all the credits. >>INTERVIEWER: Are you excited to start school? >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: Yeah. >>INTERVIEWER: So, anything else that you would like to share about learning to read or writing or school or anything? >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: No, actually. I don't read a lot but I know how to read. I just don't read a lot. >>INTERVIEWER: Is it hard to get in a GED program? [unintelligible] >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: No. Most of them did not even though it was free because they thought, well we can never do anything. After awhile you just give it a try and see how it goes. As soon as I met here she treated me with a lot of respect, like I was just a normal person. Like I wasn't in jail. She just treated me like I was a human being and she said “You can make it if you try.” So I did try and I made it. >>INTERVIEWER: Well, thank you for coming. >>NAZARIO RAMIREZ: I thank you too. Bye!