Mark Watson works full-time as an embedded systems engineer. He also teaches part-time at Dalhousie University, where he is studying for his PhD in electrical engineering. It's also a school he dropped out of several times and was the site of one of the crimes that led to his incarceration.
He spent almost three years incarcerated, but since his release in 2010 from the Atlantic Institution, a maximum security prison in Renous, N.B., he's earned a community college diploma, an engineering degree, a master's degree and is now working on his PhD in electrical engineering. "Usually when there's a string of robberies like that, they stem from an addiction," the spokesperson said.
He said he had mature conversations with Watson and could tell he had "higher-level thinking abilities." For his Grade 12 year, Watson pulled things together. He credits his first relationship, a girl he was with for a couple of years, for helping keep him stay on track. His grades showed drastic improvement and netted him an award for most improved student.
Homeless for a time, he'd sleep in the staircase of an apartment building in Fairview, N.S. He'd rob people and steal to pay for drugs. In February 2008, he was apprehended after the Dalhousie incident and incarcerated at the Burnside jail. While he was in the maximum-security prison, Watson was confined to his cell during the day. But if he worked or went to school, he'd be able to get out of his cell, so he chose school.On the first day of class, the teacher noticed Watson had an aptitude for math and gave him a calculus textbook. Watson still has the book, which has the words "Atlantic Insitution School. Renous, N.B." stamped on it.
Watson made the decision in May 2010 to stay in solitary confinement so he wouldn't get in any more trouble. "Literally, it appears that you have adopted an entire different personality. You have recently placed a lot of energy on your release plan and have expressed remorse for your victims." "I was 30 years old with three kids and living in my parents basement. I felt like a failure," he said.
"He never once complained about his fate or the fact that he was dying. But it bothered him that much that he was not going to be there to see Mark graduate. That was his main concern. That was sad."Watson and his dad at a Dalhousie event in early 2017. His father was soon diagnosed with cancer and didn't live to see his son graduate from university.
Source: Education Headlines (educationheadlines.net)
Gukkie_patooTae
Great that he recovered. Can we talk about why he felt so badly about himself as a boy that he needed to do all that just to fit in (external validation)? What was his parents' role in modeling healthy relationships and self worth and attitudes toward education?
A good story about what can happen when we don't give up on our 'lost boys.'
Great story.
Thats cool and all but what about the ppl who can't get hired becuase of their record? Without any mishaps after the fact too. We need to reform our criminal records for the people who actually learn and change their ways out of the system.
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