As vice president of the College of Marin's Rising Scholars Club, whose goal is to empower and uplift formerly incarcerated students through the transformative power of education, Sara McEvoy knew she wanted a similar community – and found it at Sonoma State.
"It was crucial for me to have that support as a student, because it definitely can be isolating for those of us who have been formerly incarcerated,” McEvoy said.
She enrolled at Sonoma State in 2023 to study political science after completing her general studies at the College of Marin. Having joined the Rise Above Club at SSU in 2023, McEvoy soon became its president.
"We want to work on fostering a community and developing a sense of belonging for students who are formerly incarcerated, because some people don’t even want to disclose that they have been arrested," McEvoy said.
The Rise Above Club at Sonoma State has 10 members and supports students who are system-impacted (a person who is legally, economically, or whose social-emotional skills are affected in a negative way by incarceration or the arrest or conviction of a close relative. This definition also includes people who have been arrested and/or convicted without incarceration).
The club’s mission is to change lives through education, spread awareness, and remove the stigma surrounding the carceral experience.
"There is so much shame and guilt attached to being formerly incarcerated, and it's important people understand that even though we have been incarcerated, we bring a lot to the table as far as insight and awareness through our lived experiences," McEvoy said.
Significant findings published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence show that students who are formerly incarcerated are more likely to work more hours than students who have not been system-involved.
Not only is McEvoy working on her degree and serving as president of the Rise Above Club, she volunteers with the Marin Homeless Union and with Marin County Juvenile Hall. She is also a student parent.
"Sara is doing amazing advocacy work in the community. As a student who was formerly incarcerated and houseless, her story should inspire us all," said Khou Yang-Vigil, SSU Director of Equity and Access Programs.
Realizing she had PTSD at an early age, McEvoy said she suffered from depression and anxiety as a youth. Her mental illness and difficulty navigating social situations led her to shoplifting and being arrested in middle school.
"Mental health awareness did not exist when I was growing up. I was ignored or shamed for my issues. I did whatever I could to medicate myself," she said.
Not knowing how to manage her mental health, she said she turned to unhealthy coping skills like drugs her senior year of high school; she subsequently experienced several domestic violence occurrences and eventually became homeless, resulting in her son being taken by Child Protective Services at the age of 26.
"Losing my son and becoming homeless led me to using methamphetamine. I was living day to day, in complete survival mode, not dealing with my problems and exacerbating the issues," she said.
Her addiction kept her alive, she said, but it initiated years of incarceration. Pregnant with her daughter a few years later, McEvoy said she knew she needed to get sober, manage her legal issues and her mental health, so she could get her life back on track.
"The goal was always to get my son back," she said. "Of all the things I could have failed at, that was the hardest."
Her path has not been smooth, she said, but her goal is to transfer to the University of California, Berkeley, and then enter law school. "I love the law. The law was used against me, so I want to be able to use the law to protect myself and to defend marginalized populations such as the homeless."
Mo Phillips, director of student involvement at SSU, has been instrumental in supporting the Rise Above Club. Phillips said the challenges are substantial for formerly incarcerated students.
"Not only have they been incarcerated, which is trauma on its own, but many of them don't have support systems, they have developmental challenges or mental disorders, and many of them come from marginalized communities or environments that created a level of PTSD early on. It's just factually harder for these students," Phillips said.
Both Phillips and McEvoy understand that the more adverse childhood experiences (ACES) a person has, the more likely they are to have serious health problems, unstable work histories, and a range of difficulties well into adulthood, creating limited educational and economic opportunities.
"Toxic stress and trauma create neural pathways in the brain that make it harder to stay on the straight and narrow," Phillips said. "These students have their own specific experiences as children and young adults, and it's important that we create a place where they feel like they belong and can thrive."
McEvoy said that the path to getting arrested or being incarcerated is nuanced.
"I think there's an assumption by the general population around being incarcerated that it's a natural choice of good and bad, or that we are all criminals. It's more complicated than that," she said. "Mental health, the safety of our environment, the support or lack of it, experiencing violence as a child, all play a part. Substance abuse is the self-medication that comes with trauma, but it's extremely complex when we are talking about changing neural pathways."
Educating people and creating connection and understanding is the club’s goal.
“We want the Rise Above community to help educate not just each other, but the other students around them. We want to humanize the situations that many of our formerly incarcerated students have been put in or gone through,” Phillips said.
Excited about where the club will go, McEvoy said she hopes its community will bring awareness and sensitivity to others on campus who have not been incarcerated or system impacted.
“I used to live under a bush. Society had written me off. I was told that I was an unfit parent by the court. But here I am today, attending a four-year college and volunteering in my daughter's school,” she said.
Phillips said the Rise Above Club is one of her favorite student groups. “I think they are amazing. The students really don’t need much, but they do need us to see and hear them, and understand their situation.”
Krista Sherer- Strategic Communications Writer