Student transcends rough childhood, becomes respectful

John Carter knows now he was headed down the wrong path until a teacher showed him a better way. Now he wants to pay back his hero by becoming a teacher himself.

Born in San Diego, Carter, 25, moved around frequently as a child and attended many schools without distraction until he landed at Beyer Elementary School in San Ysidro at age seven.

"I never really liked school but my favorite teacher was Darlene Love, because she made an enormous impression on me," said Carter. "School lacked the challenges required to keep my attention and I soon became bored."

Sixth grade camp at Palomar Mountain was the highlight of that year, he said. It was the first time he had felt close to nature. This was the only good experience that he recalls from that time.

"Math was my worst enemy and by eighth grade I decided school was a waste of time, so I dropped out after my first month of seventh grade classes at Wilson Middle School," he said.

He said he had not seen his father in three years, when, at age 12, he recognized him standing in front of a store with a bucket begging for money.

"That was the first time I realized we were really poor," said Carter.

As a teenager he rode his bike through the streets of East San Diego watching his father run a crack house.

Tae Kwon Do classes demonstrated to him the value of discipline.

"I really responded well to that method of teaching and it was something that was missing in American culture," he said. "That is where I drew my inspiration to teach, originally."

A scooter accident resulting in a skull fracture resulted in bouts of epilepsy. It prevented him from continuing martial arts, wrestling and other physical activities he had enjoyed. Epilepsy medication caused a weight gain that challenges him to this day.

At 15, Carter and his mother were homeless for three months. He wrote about his experiences to confront his emotions. He also began playing RPG video games and going into chat rooms.

"I could not really write at all when I first started," said Carter. "It was in those chat rooms that I learned to write."

His fascination grew and he began writing stories to perfect and hone his creative skills, writing 100 paragraphs a day.

His mother and her boyfriend took in his sister's three children in 2002 because she was unable to care for them due to many years of drug addiction. His father passed away in 2003. Carter was just 18.

Unfortunate circumstances for his mother led to a complete shift in Carter's life at the age of 20. In 2005, he found himself taking full responsibility for his sister's children who are now ages 13, 10 and 9. Early on, he instilled in them excellent work ethics and taught them to do chores around the house.

"The most challenging aspect of raising three kids is time," he said. "There is not enough time to keep up with everything. It is not emotionally challenging, just physically and financially."

Carter said he wanted his nieces and nephew to work for their education. In order to support his extended family, the Welfare to Work program required Carter to either work or go to school.

He enrolled in fall of 2006 at SWC's National City campus, earning A's in two fast track classes. Carter first thought of being a psychology major and took a Psychology of Death and Dying class.

"The first day of class, the teacher went through the syllabus, and said we would be visiting a cemetery as part of the requirements," he said. "This was not something that appealed to me. I said ‘pass on this class' and left."

He went to the CalWorks office to let them know he was dropping the class and mistakenly walked in to the Sun newspaper classroom nearby. He saw an old friend from kindergarten, Vanessa Nevarez, who invited him to come back the next day to join the class.

"I thought this class might be a good class for writing," said Carter. "I went back the next day and asked Max Branscomb for the add code. I will never forget what he said to me, ‘I will give you the add code. Just don't let me down'."

In the fall of 2007 Carter suffered a seizure on the volleyball court while working for the Athletics Department through the Federal Work Study program.

"I was almost turned off from school from that accident," he said.

Carter dropped out of the newspaper class but remained in Professor Barry Horlor's Mexican-American History class.

"When I took that class I was reminded of the challenge of education, in terms of that classes can be really hard but really rewarding," said Carter. "It was there in that class where the roots of inspiration took hold and I resolved to become a college teacher."

Horlor said he was privileged to see Carter make "the turn," that point in a person's life where they are going to change.

"He confronted what held him back and decided to make a more vital commitment to his family and community," he said.

Carter rejoined the Sun and became a star. He said the most passionate story he wrote for The Sun was about Caleb Stevens, a retired businessman who saw a man in Tecate without a leg begging in the street. Stevens eventually began an effort to provide prosthetics to people in need.

"Stevens said it was wrong on a fundamental human level," said Carter.

He became inspired to emulate Stevens and wanted to reproduce this uplifting behavior.

Shannon Pagano, former editor-in-chief of the Sun, said she has been and always will be in awe of Carter.

"There are few people who have ever inspired me the way John Carter has," she said. "He has overcome tremendous personal, and socio-economical obstacles to fully commit to becoming the best person he can be and giving back to his community."