Saints of Santa Fe College – Prince Ulame Erase
November 19, 2018
I came to Gainesville with nothing. I didn't have a penny. I'm from Nigeria and came here to attend a conference. While I was coming, I lost my credit card that I was to use for hotels, food, all of that. I asked a fellow in the Gainesville Airport, 'Where can I stay? I have to find a way to survive.' He told me there was a shelter called GRACE Marketplace. He took me there, and they fed me and told me they'd make it work. The beauty of it all is that, while I was there, I felt there was a reason. There was a reason I lost my credit card and stumbled into GRACE. Interacting with the people there, it made me see things from a different perspective. But I couldn't stay at GRACE forever. I became an intern-and now, I am a house manager-at House of Hope, a prison transition home. When I told the people at House of Hope I wanted to continue in academics, they said they had a relationship with Santa Fe and took it all from there. I did my application and was able to get a scholarship-free tuition-through House of Hope. I wanted to study something that had a similarity to my work there, so I'm pursuing Criminal Justice. It has been quite a ride, but, so far, I'm loving it.
- Prince Ulame Erase, A.A. Criminal Justice
