[MUSIC] There are so many people that are in high places that went to community college that we don't even know about.

But people are still ashamed of it.

>>It's funny we have this culture that honors this idea of the American dream and being open, and yet we also stick our noses up if you're not going to Harvard.

>> People believe that, that it's better to go off to a four year, go to a regular college, go to a real college.

>> We have so much untapped potential in our community colleges.

We need to do more to unlock it.

[MUSIC] >>I'm going to be going on this roadtrip with Two other community college goers.

>> We are going to travel around the United States.

>> And interview super successful people who also attended community college.

>> Getting inperation and motivation from them as far as what is it that I should be doing for myself with my life We're gonna start in California and make our way over to the East Coast, in an RV for three weeks.

>> The mission for me is to Figure out what I wanna do.

It's more than just travelling and seeing faces.

>> This might be super life changing.

[LAUGH] >> I'm going to a community college.

And then, going on this roadtrip It's a step to finding ourselves [MUSIC] Today is day one.

Armand and Becca, they are amazing.

Our energy just flowed when we first met.

>> We're about to meet the [CROSSTALK] >> Yeah >> It's ours.

>> Yeah >> It's ours.

>>Oh!

What!

That'll be our home for three and a half weeks.

[MUSIC] >> So we just finished unpacking and getting ourselves settled in our new little home.

It's really awesome.

>> Right now it feels like a dream.

I'm waiting for it to feel real, I'm not sure when that's gonna happen, I don't know if it's gonna be like we're driving down the road, I'm like my God we're on a road trip.

My name is Rebecca Rodak, I'm 21 years old, and I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

My entire childhood was basically this house, the back yard, and the front street.

We have this huge tree that has four trunks split out of one and that was our family tree.

I have a big family.

I have five brothers and three sisters.

Whenever you have older siblings, you're constantly trying to do what they did or do better.

Even if they weren't successful the entire time, they all ended up careers and jobs and stability, so that was always an aim for me.

So the plan was to go to university and then get a job, and then that didn't happen.

I went to Franciscan I got sick and I had to leave.

Because it felt like, I was going to die I took a year off and I wasn't really sure what I was doing with my life.

So my mom was like why don't you take some community college classes?

And in high school there is definitely this idea that going to community college is this last resort.

And everything that I thought about it ended up just being wrong.

Community college was so great.

I was excited to make that next step.

So I transferred.

I went to Pitt and I love it.

I feel like I was ready after taking those classes, but that's what I'm worried about is I always had expectations for myself, like at 21 I probably thought I would be graduating the next year, I would already have a place in mind that I wanted to work.

It just didn't happen.

I am someone who has a lot of interest, but at the same time I am the most indecisive person.

>> So Becca is similar to me, but I'm still in community college, in City College.

I've been in community college for about eight years, and I'm currently working part time as an IT tech.

So all my aunties and uncles and my mom wanted me to go to nursing or something in the medical field.

I know I had people telling me, do this, do that, but I guess I just didn't follow it.

I was just so unsure.

Knowing that it's so much money, and especially since you don't have a certain goal that you wanna do yet, community college was the first thing that came to my mind.

It's not like community college doesn't offer help at all.

There's help right there, you just need to go to it, grab it.

Take the opportunity to figure out what you want and I didn't take advantage of most of the stuff that was there.

I guess I haven't found what I wanted to do yet.

I took so many classes, but I'm not as motivated to even try and pass.

So I applied after this road trip because I was just like, why not, man?

I need to do something with my life.

I wanna find that little happiness when I find what I wanna do.

That's what I wanna aim for.

[MUSIC] My name is Melanie Scott, I am 24 and I'm from New York.

So I grew up with my mom and dad in Brooklyn and around when I was 10 years old, that's when they got a divorce.

It really was hard for us girls and we just kind of rebelled and exploded to a point where I really couldn't come back home.

I was kicked out for two years or three years.

I was just house hopping and just transitioning out my jobs and things like that.

So college was just never an idea for me.

It was like, I can go, but it's not too important.

I know that I love helping people, and especially minorities, but I'm not sure how to do it.

So I was like, what if I was to be an activist?

I don't know that that means but just helping the community That's when it clicked to me, like okay I need to go to school.

So I'm really in this point of my life where I go to school and I finally know what I want to do and I finally know where I need to go with my life.

I wanna educate, motivate and liberate.

So in order to do that, I need to make sure that I have myself in check before I can start encouraging others out there.

That's the reason why I'm on this road trip, and that's the reason why I went to community college is so I could be educated.

and stay connected in this dream of mine >> So our fist interview was at Long Beach Community College and we interviewed Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley.

>> Armand.

>> Nice to meet you.

>> San Fransisco city college?

>> Yes, you got it.

>>My name is Eloy Ortiz Oakley and I have the privilege of serving as the Chancelor for the California Community Colleges.

California Community Colleges, we're 114 colleges.

We serve more than 2.1 million students.

So if you think about it this way, one of out every four community college students in the nation, is a California community college student.

[MUSIC] >> My name is Armand and being in City college for eight years- [CROSSTALK] >> Eight years?

>> Yeah, [LAUGH].

>>I say I've been living too comfortably and now I really wanna get up there and figure out what I want to do.

>> Certainly, I mean there are many times in my life where, I had passion for wanting to do something but I didn't have the tools to get it done.

And right out of high school I was being recruited to play football at Brown University, Pitzer College, and the first day of class I didn't go.

I didn't go because I couldn't figure out how I was gonna get from where I lived to Pitzer College which was at least 45 minutes away.

My parents no longer lived in California, I was living on my own.

So I just turned it down, and then one day I decided I needed to join the military and I did.

So yeah, I went to community college after I got back out of the military and after working for a couple of years, and I was like many students.

And similar to your story, I didn't understand where I was going or how I was gonna get there.

but you know, it's one day at a time.

I mean, I had to stop on a couple of different occasions, and I worked pretty much full time.

And I was raising a family, you know, life gets in the way, but you have to keep coming back.

Fortunately for me, I got the opportunity to start working in for community colleges and that motivated my passion.

And my passion was always to find a way to make a difference.

>> What would you say about the stereotypes that people say about community colleges?

For example, like people just go there and then in the end they don't make it.

Or they're just lazy people, just doing whatever.

>> [LAUGH] >>What would you say about that?

>> Well, you know, after I'd use a few expletives, and I'd say community colleges are the great equalizers.

The students in community colleges are hungry for opportunity.

I mean, there are students in some of our most selective universities in this nation that are the laziest people on the Earth.

>> True.

>> Because they've been handed everything.

>> Yeah.

>> Community college students don't get that luxury.

They come to school because they want to come to school because they see the chance for an opportunity.

So they are some of the hardest working people I know.

They work, they raise families, they go to school, they hustle, so for me, I think the opposite is true.

I think community college students are the key to the economic future of the United States >> So, if you had to sum up everything that you gave us, What would be that main advice that you would give?

>>The most important thing is the confidence that you can do it.

The confidence in yourself and that's what a lot of students lack when they come to community college.

This fundamental confidence that you can do whatever you wanna do.

I know it's sort of, people get tired of hearing that, but it's truth.

The only difference is having the confidence to just go do it and take the risk that you need to take, and jump through those doors that come open.

And so whether it took you eight years to get out of the City College of San Francisco, or two years, or ten years, at the end of the day it doesn't matter.

What matters is showing up every day and just getting through what you need to get through to get to the end, and the end will come if you keep pushing forward.

[MUSIC] Community colleges hold the key to the future of our nation.

>> [APPLAUSE] >> Thank you.

>>Good luck to you guys on your trip >> Thank you.

[MUSIC] >> So for day two, we went to Pasadena to interview Diana >> She's the Director of the Mars Rover at JPL.

This woman is amazing and she has so much to offer to the world Okay guys.

>> Let's go.

>> Off to space.

>> [LAUGH] >> My name is Diana Trujillo, and I'm from Colombia.

I am the mission lead of the Mars Exploration Rover, it is an SUV size nuclear power, laser beam eye, rover.

My job is to troubleshoot anything that happens to the rover.

So anything that goes wrong with the rover, it's my problem, it's my team's, that needs to figure it out.

Because a rover sitting on Mars, it takes approximately 14 minutes or so, of the signal to make it to the rover, and 14 minutes to come back.

Which means that by the time you have sent something, 28 minutes have happened and 28 minutes later, you know you're in trouble.

And now you have to react to it very quickly.

So I like, I love the rush.

>> Wow.

[MUSIC] >> So you're from Colombia, right?

>> Yes.

>> Could you please speak about that experience ad far as growing up there and your transition to moving to the United States?

>> There was a lot of drug trafficking going on in Colombia, lots of kidnapping, lots of people getting killed.

And so looking at the sky, and looking at the stars, and looking at the moon, and looking at the planets, it just make think like, I can disappear from all of the things that are happening around me, right.

So I got on a plane, and I landed in Miami, and I figure, well something is gonna have to happen.

It was tough, it was a tough transition because I was like walking through phone booth trying to see if I can find money in the phone so so that I could buy something to eat, right?

What I knew was that education was gonna get me out of this.

It was gonna give me the shot that I needed one way or another.

And so, I feel like community college made me believe that I could do it.

It's not gonna be easy, but honestly, nothing that's worth it is easy.

It's your life you're designing, put everything on it, and take it seriously.

What I understood was what type of impact I wanted to do in the world.

I want people to sit down in school and read that textbook and say, discover x y z and then my name [LAUGH].

And so, it was real for me, right?

It's obvious I'm not gonna do that if I don't go to school.

So it's sort of kind of a full circle.

Sometimes we look at the full circle from the perspective of, I'm in college, and I'm pushing forward.

I see the circle the other way, which is, where do I wanna be at, and how do I get there from where I am today?

Your job is to explore and expand that.

[MUSIC] >> Her story was shocking, because you look at her career and you think that, she probably going through too much struggles and thinks like that cuz she's up this amazing job, doing amazing things.

But once she opened up about going growing up in Colombia and dealing with the hardships, just to see her now, it's amazing.

She didn't lose that faith in herself.

So our second interview, we ended up going to San Diego to interview Dominick Cruz.

Who is a two time banton Champion the UFC.

I was really excited to just hear his story because we were in the training gym where he was warming up.

You see this hard exterior and you think, how is this gonna turn out?

This was room full of UFC fighters.

It was like, my gosh, people were fighting each other and throwing each other on the mat, and I felt this urge to hit something immediately.

Their warm up is insane, it's 90 minutes of [SOUND].

It's like a workout and itself and then they go and beat each other up for another hour.

[MUSIC] So you seem very motivated.

Were you like that as a child or were you very energetic?

How was that?

>> I had a weird thing happen to me when I was real young which made me an adult much faster than I needed to be.

I was five years old, my mom and my dad were having a divorce.

So I remember he takes me to the room, takes me to the back.

And sits me down, five years old, you're the man of the house now.

I gotta go, take care of your mom, take care of your brother.

This is it.

Some people say that's so sad that your father did that to you and gave you that edge, no five year old should have that kind of responsibility and I agree.

But it created something different in me that drove me to.

I moved out here when I was 21.

I letterally did nothing but train eat and sleep.

From 21 until I was 26.

I had my first world title at 26 So it took me four years, a pure complete focus to get my first world title.

>> Did you second guessed yourself, your decision a lot for these four years?.

I'm a huge over-thinker.

>> Yeah, me too.

>> So did it take you a long time to be like, okay, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna focus on this?

>> I told myself that there is no choice to second guess.

That's something that fighting will teach you.

If I was to fight you right now and I was to say, all right, here I go.

I don't really know if I wanna do this.

When I get in there, I'm just not gonna be right.

The problem is, everybody dabbles in ten different things, so they never focus on one facet.

So they never really complete what they want.

They're too indecisive.

Decisiveness is key to success.

Like a magnifying glass of you.

Take a magnifying glass and you point in on something with the sun long enough, what happens?

It lights on fire.

If you move it every five seconds to try to do something else, what happens?

Basically, nothing happens.

So I just focus on the one thing and started a fire.

What I realized is, I can become the highest level professional at anything on Earth, if I focus to three to four years.

Doesn't matter what it is.

Now let's break this down for a second.

How long does it take to get a degree?

I listen to my body, I listen to my heart and I listen to my mind, for it to choose for me.

Because the one thing that made me happy was being in the gym.

So there's all these different things that you gotta add into the equation.

Get yourself right before you start the fire.

Get the fire started and make sure you keep yourself right.

Everything has to flow together.

[MUSIC] You guys say you're talking to these people all over the place as mentors, to learn something for yourself.

Well, just to put into perspective how good this is gonna be for you guys.

One, you're open minded so you're listening to other people and you're taking risks by doing it.

Taking time out of your summer to do this.

But you have to focus on yourself.

Your focus on too many other things and it's just not gonna happen.

>> After the interview, you were saying like, so what do you guys wanna do?

Do you wanna do, I think he said chockehold or like do you wanna throw someone?

>> [INAUDIBLE].

>> Get thrown.

>> Yeah, I want to- >> I'll get her her down.

>> So yeah, I flipped a world champion, I'm gonna remember for the rest of my life that I flipped Dominic Cruz over my back.

[MUSIC] >> All right, thank you.

Thank you so much.

[MUSIC] So we walked out to the salt flat.

[SOUND] I've never ever been in a space like that.

[MUSIC] My favorite part was just laying on the ground just in stillness.

>> I didn't realize that escaping was such a huge thing that was in me.

[MUSIC] I have three sisters.

And when I was growing up one of my sisters passed away.

She was 13.

[MUSIC] After my sister passed away, that was all I wanted to do.

Run away.

Escape, just leave, and I never could because we live in a really small town.

It's a mile, I would go for a walk and be back home.

[MUSIC] It is an escape because we're travelling but I'm constantly worrying about what should I be doing now and what should be my next step.

It's kind of like a guilt thing because it's like she should have done it first, you know.

You would think that losing someone at a young age would make me want to get on with my life sooner.

But it's almost like, if I stay without a direction, it feels like this in between where she's still kind of part of my life.

Like I haven't moved on into adulthood.

I'm still a kid, but that's just my theory.

[MUSIC] That's why we're on this road trip, is because we're all dealing with something that's kind of stopping us.

This roadtrip is the pathway to finding ourselves [MUSIC] In 0.2 miles, we're going to turn right onto Pier Point Avenue.

I feel like there's so many amazing things that I could do, but I definitely feel if I commit to one thing, that leads you down a path and there's no turning back.

That's always a fear of mine.

[MUSIC] Even just fear of failure is such a huge thing for me.

Failing at something that I want to be good at, that makes me not even try.

[MUSIC] So Monday, we went into actually Salt Lake City, downtown area, and went to the Salt Lake Underground Magazine.

>> Hi, hello.

[MUSIC] Melanie.

>> Hi Melanie.

>> We spoke to Angela.

She's the executive editor for Slug Magazine.

It's really cool because her office is exactly like Angela.

As far as her image I have this idea of her in my mind that she's going to be super loud because she's punk rock with these tattoos and then we got there and she was like hi, how are you?

I'm Angela, and we got into her actual story, she's so confident, speaks softly carry a big stick [MUSIC] I am Angela H Brown.

I am the executive editor and publisher for Slug Magazine.

Slug Magazine, it's an acronym, Salt Lake Underground, and we cover things that you won't read about in other media outlets here locally.

>> And how did you get to become executive head there?

>> Great question.

Let's see, 19 years ago, actually I was a photo journalist, I was going through the community college program at Salt Lake Community College for Photography.

And I was freelancing for all of the local papers in town, and so I had an opportunity to shoot a cover for SLUG magazine.

And then from that point forward, I became a managing editor and then two years later I had opportunity to take over the magazine and that's when I officially became editor and the publisher.

And so I just stopped at my two year degree and put some of those skills that I learned in community college to the test.

And the rest of my education has been in the field.

[LAUGH] >> So whenever you first took over the magazine, was it just you leading?

Did you have someone else nentoring as you are trying to create this new thing?

>> When I first took over the magazine, it was baptism by fire.

I actually could not afford to pay myself.

I could only afford to pay one other employee part time and then I worked two other jobs at the side.

So I did that for about two to three years.

It actually took me about five and a half, six years to pay off the business loan.

>> So those first two or three years when you were working all those jobs, for me that would have been really hard to stay in the course and keep doing it.

Did you have any thoughts of going back or regret?

How did you overcome those?

>> Yes.

I felt like giving up all the time, especially being a young female business owner where all of my friends are going to the lake or they're having different experiences, and I'm working my tail off, right?

And so it was tough and also being in a situation where I would need to go into a room full of men wearing suits and me being who I am, and I have to tell them to take me seriously.

But those were all really great experiences that helped me become who I am today.

And so it was definitely difficult and I wanted to give up a lot, but the way that I saw it was this is an opportunity for me to prove myself, and I just could not fail, I would not let myself fail.

I was tempted a lot, but then I also saw a little bit of a pay off if I can get through this.

If I can just stick my head down right now and work really hard and get through it, the skills that I'll learn, the connections I'll make.

If I can see the goal, the light at the end of the tunnel, that would really make it worth it to me.

[MUSIC] We can talk the talk, but if we're not walking the walk, nothing's going to change, right?

So it's more than just conversations, it's taking those conversations and turning them into actionable items so that we can then achieve our goal.

>> Right so talk minus action equals zero.

>> She was one of those people that she knew what she was gonna do from a young age I feel like.

She started out photography young and she got into community college young.

I feel like she said it so casually, like I just got a business loan, took over this company, but she was in her 20s.

And I was thinking about if I was in that situation, if I would've taken over that company, if I think that I'm not doing well at something, I just don't do it.

So what if I find something that I am passionate about, actually following through with it and seeing where it leads would be a good start for me I think.

[MUSIC] >> The RV life, I'd say it's pretty fun.

We've really got to take advantage of the time that we have in this RV.

>> Whenever it comes to travelling or experiences and trying to be in the moment, you can't plan it.

You should plan where you're gonna go a little bit, but I like taking advantage of wherever we are at that time.

[MUSIC] >> [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] >> We're not really distracted at all when we're here.

Especially when in the middle of nowehere our jobs are not bothering us, we don't have any distraction like video games or anything like that.

It's just this trip.

[MUSIC] All I want is to keep Seen what's out there.

[MUSIC] >> We're like deciding what we're gonna do for the day, and we heard about Doubles Tower in Wyoming we really wanna go out there and check it out.

>> They're perfect.

>> They do.

>> Yes.

Is that?

There's the legend.

And that's why it's called Bear Lodge.

The legends say some kids where being chased by bears, and then the spirits lifted those whole rocks, saving them from the bear.

>> This is steep!

>> It felt like a very spiritual place.

You felt it.

[MUSIC] That was a great place for all of us to really focus on why we're on this trip.

[MUSIC] >> I know that I love helping people.

Mostly, black communities, because as I've seen so many struggles in so many differn ways I was like, I need to focus my attnetion on that I was like, maybe journalism, but, that's probably not what I want to do What if I was to be an activist?

Helping the community But, in the future, I'm not too sure what that means We're going to go to Fort Yates, North Dakota, to interview Ron.. His horse is Thunder.

I'm definitely looking forward to him because of his story about Standing Rock.

>>We drew in, 10, 20 thousand people protesting against oil pipleines if it breaks, it will affect our groundwater.

Then the sheriff showed up with all his troops.

and you get a thousand cops camped 3 miles up the road from our camp.

so, it really becomes a standoff between militarized police and what we call ourselves, the water protectors [MUSIC] >>Can you talk about grwoing up, how it was?

Where this activism kind of spirit came from?

>> Mom and Dad had moved to New York City when we were, when I was ten years old I believe and they moved us to Harlem in Manhattan.

But I could see that the prejudice between white and African American but when I first truly felt it as being Indian is when I go back to South Dakota.

Ran away from my parents' home when I was not quite 15 years old, hitch hiked cross country.

It was then started to truly experience racism and prejudice.

And I've really seen it with my uncles more then anything else.

I remember them getting arrested.And they would get beat up by the police officers.

That started to instill in me the idea, you know, you've got to go to law school to help people like my uncle who would get in trouble with the law.

And I went to Sitting Bull College, Standing Rock Community College, transferred to Black Hills State College in Spearfish, South Dakota, immediately opted for law school.

I failed the bar exam.

I was happy and now I know I'm not meant to practice law.

Came home to the reservation and they hired me at the college.

And so I stayed at the college and eventually became the president of the college.

And this beautiful campus you see sitting here.

When I first became college president, that was an empty alfalfa field.

>> I think the three of us, we all experience stigmas when it comes to community college.

That you shouldn't start out here, you should go a four-year university.

I was wondering, is that the same kind of ideas about tribal college?

>> One of the reasons why we started tribal college is because the failure rate of our students when they went to mainstream institution was about 95%.

We say start here first and then go on.

Your chance of succeeding are much greater that way.

It doesn't matter where you start.

If community college is that start, then that's fine.

The other thing is this that, that sense of passion.

That's something that we all seek.

So don't worry about struggling trying to find the passion.

And sooner or later you will.

So don't wait to find the passion before you start education.

Start your education and you will find that passion.

The passion that Mom had instilled in me came out in terms of professionally helping the reservation and the people.

And it wasn't until just this last year that the opportunity came for showing civil disobedience as part of that passion.

Talking about the NoDAPL protest here.

My wife and I, we first went to show our support.

We got arrested as well, too.

That was the first time for me in terms of the passion coming out in a different way in a way that Mom and Dad had demonstrated as young adults.

Down there?

>> Yeah.

>> Unless you're afraid of snakes, you could walk right.

You're not afraid of snakes are you?

>> Snakes?

>> Of course not.

>> All right then.

>> Okay.

>> It's just snakes.

>> [LAUGH] >> Wow.

[MUSIC] >> So this is home?

>> Yes, it is.

>> Yep, this is home.

>> Yep, this is where we've been living for a week and a half now.

>> For a week and a half?

>> Week and a half, and we have another week and a half to go, yep.

[MUSIC] A person's reach should exceed their grasp, or what are dreams for?

>> Thank you so much.

>> Thank you.

[MUSIC] >> Ron is everything that I've been waiting for, as far as a leader.

[MUSIC] His mission is exactly my mission.

[MUSIC] I felt I wasn't alone.

It validates that what I wanna do about life if it come true because he's a living proof that I can do it.

[MUSIC] >> And after that, you're going to keep right for I94 East.

>> Hi.

>> [LAUGH] >> I'm Deesha.

>> Hi, Deesha.

>> We talked to Deesha Dyer and she flew to Detroit for us.

She flew to meet us, which was amazing because she has such an intense connection to community college.

She held office in the White House and went to community college, which is insane.

[MUSIC] >> When I went to community college, I had to swallow a lot of pride because I was 30 years old and they said, you have to take a high school math course.

And I was like, what are you talking about?

I'm on top of the world, like a hip-hop writer and got this great job.

But I swallowed my pride and did it.

[MUSIC] So my name is Deesha Dyer.

I am a graduate of the Community College of Philadelphia.

I went to University of Cincinnati to start, it was a four year college.

I was completely overwhelmed.

Once I dropped out of school it was hard, because I thought something was wrong with me.

I was an activist in the community, but I felt like I wasn't taken seriously because I didn't have an education.

So I tried to go back to college at Temple and a bunch of other schools, and I got rejected.

And they said, you should go to community college.

And I was like, I'm not going to community college, who does that?

But then I got serious about it, and I went back.

Senator Barrack Obama started running for president.

And I was like, God bless his heart, he's not going to win but I appreciate this man trying I loved everything about what he was saying, what he was doing what he was proposing And so I said, I'm gonna work for him some day.

But I didn't know how I was gonna do it.

And I got an application for a bunch of girls I used to mentor for the White House Internship.

And I looked at it and said, well, maybe this is my chance.

>> Was there fear whenever you first applied for the internship to actually then apply for it?

>> 1,000%, there was a lot of fear.

I would go on the intern boards, and be like, when does the application come out?

And I would see the school they would go to and I'd be like, ew, but then I looked at the application.

It was all writing, and I could do that.

I still didn't think it was gonna be good enough to hand in, but I did it anyway because I was like, what do I have to lose?

And then I got a random email weeks later.

And it was like, Dear White House applicant, we would like to inform you, and I was like, you didn't get the internship, whatever.

So I didn't even open the email for about a couple days.

And then I opened it, and it's like that you have been chosen.

And I was like, my God!

>> [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] So I started interning at the White House, still going to community college.

I finished in 2010, and they offered me a full-time job.

>> Wow.

>> And I said, thank you so much.

But just so we're clear, I don't have a college degree.

I'm just in my first year of community.

They said, well, how about you work here and then go to class on the weekend and we can figure it out.

And they supported me going to community college.

I ended up as a special assistant to the president and White House social secretary, doing all the president's events and the first lady's events.

>> Do you have any final words of advice for us, or the people who are going to watch this The stigma that's on community colleges, it's absolutely terrible.

>> Yeah.

>> Community college, it meets you where you are.

I was on assisted living, I was evicted from an apartment, I was kicked out of college.

And I felt like I failed at that, and I would fail at everything.

So it was hard, because I thought something was wrong with me, until I went to community and saw people that were like me.

And I was just like, nothing's wrong with me.

I just needed a different pace, and that's all it was.

Like, my whole life, if you look at a report card there's F's everywhere It's like F's... then the White House hits A... You know what I mean At the White House I had imposter syndrome.

They're going to find out I went to community, everybody's going to find out And then when I got promotoed It was all over the place People where like, we love that you went to community and you're in such a high place I'm like, oh, this is good?

This is alright?

We're good here?

>> Even her personal stigma about community college, like, people that go there, it's like, Mm, I'm not so sure about it.

I had my own personal stigmas about going to community college, so I had a lot of connections with her.

>> It really made me realize that commmunity is helping s many people just figure out what they're passionate about So surprisingly, in Detroit, they celebrate July 4th a week ahead.

So there were people camping out around us, there was cars filling up the parking lot It's freezing, it's raining, but I guess that was the beauty of it is that it was so unexpected.

but I guess that was the beauty of [MUSIC]hat it was so unexpected.

[MUSIC] I'm trying to stay in the moment.

But thinking about my flight home and like, ugh, it sucks, man.

Throughout all these interviews I'm learning these things, but it'll be hard for me to change my whole life, the things I've learned to be afraid of.

>>It doesn't really taste like anything.

It kind of tastes like water >> Living with Becca and Armand, it's been natural.

We're a little family We've been through three weeks.

The bond that we've shared just sharing this advice Just getting to know them.

We are good friends I'm pretty bummed that we're almost done.

But I'm going to keep in touch with them.

I want to know what they're going to accomplish and what they're going to do >> So we are going to interview Jarrett Adams.

>> Hi, Melonie, nice to meet you.

>> My name is Jarrett Adams, I'm an attorney with the Innocence Project.

But before I was practicing law with Innocence Project, I was actually writing the Innocence Project from a prison cell, with a 28-year sentence.

[MUSIC] I was falsely accused of a rape after going to a college party with some friends when I was 17 years old and just graduating high school.

I was in prison for almost ten years.

Before the Wisconsin Innocence Project answered one of my letters.

They argued on my behalf.

My conviction was reversed, record expunged.

And I was released in 2007 in February.

>> I wanna ask you, when you went through that moment, how did you find yourself to forgive the system, forgive the people that accused you?

Forgive the Lawyer... > I actually didn't forgive them.

Right!

I'm Mad >> Till this day?

>> Yeah, but you know what I m doing with this anger?

What I m doing now.

That was my motivation to become an attorney and do what I'm doing now.

And I said to myself, first of all, what's the most reasonable and economical way I can do this I came home with no bank account, no credit, my parents were senior citizens at the time So I couldn't foot the bill of a 4 year college.

So I said okay I m going to go to Jr. College.

That April, I m in school So the thing that I wanted to do was I wanted to be able to use the community college to be reacclimated back into society.

Once I got there, everything that has happened since, me deciding to go to school and really making that a priotity has happened as a result of the resources and relationships I was able to develop while in school.

You can't just go through the motions I put on the back of my bedroom door, my five year plan.

So each and every day, as I got up to open the door I would see it, and it would be a reminder of where I wanted to be.

And it's something as simple as that can remind you that you don't have time to waste.

That saying that life is short and all that type of stuff, no it is.

Think about it, it's already July.

Summer's about to be over in a blink of the eye.

So your every move has to be a calculated step towards what it is you're trying to do.

>> So that very thing, like any advice that sticks out to you that you wanna put out there that could help all of us?

>> Don't focus on the top of the mountain because it's intimidating.

Look at the middle of the mountain and focus on how you get to that point first.

Write down what it is that you wanna do so you don't have to keep being wishy-washy and stuff like that.

When you change directions, when it goes left or right, that means you're not going where?

Froward, stick to the plan, because if not you'll be in a plan forever.

Cuz one of the worst things to do is not to fail.

The worst thing you do is to not even try.

[MUSIC] >>Right now, from what I'm thinking, people would kill to have all the support that I have.

and then here I am not really being serious about it.

Being in coummunity college for 8 years with no straight path My Dad helps me, my Mom helps me and all that.

Yeah, I guess I was just too comfertable.

I'm pretty ashamed of that.

I just really don't want to go back to being comferable again [MUSIC] >>So today, we are in New York City and we're going to be getting our first tattoo's.

What it means to me is that the crossroads or the connection between all of us What it means to me is that the crossroads or the connection between all of us >>Crossroads of our lives up to this roadtrip and what we take from this roadtrip and move on >>Yes >>Like we at a point in our lives, we're at a crossroads >>Just everything that we've beenthrough.

We're connected, That's a perfect meaning [MUSIC] >>We're in Jim Lehrer's neighborhood, and we're about to go into his house and interview him.

>>Good evening, I'm Jim Lehrer >>We do have to lower the cost of healthcare >>Can the two of you agree that the voters have a clear choice between the two of you on medicare?

two of you agree that >>Absolutelyave a clear choice >>Yesen the two of you on medicare?

>>Absolutely >>Yes >>Melanie >>Hi >>Hi, nice to meet you >>Armand >>What does it feel like when you're pursuing a story or writing journalism?

Is there a common feeling that you know is right for you?

>>Driven by curiosity, driven by interest.

If you don't have curiosity, if you don't have interest, there's no kick to it.

The kick comes in finding out something that you didn't know before I used to get it from live interviews and realizing you're not getting somebody I don t come from the school of gotcha journalism.

Interviewing someone and realizing that that person said something that mattered.

and that I helped get that story out, it's a real satisfying experience.

It's kind of the ultimate professional satisfying experience for me [MUSIC] >> My story is simply this.

It turned out that we didn't have the money for me to go even to a state school.

So, we moved into a place called Victoria and dad said well I think there's some kind of a junior college down there.

I'll never forget that I go and I say well I'm Jim Lehrer I just enrolled and mentioned to him I'd like to go to work on the newspaper.

And this guy, [LAUGH] he stands up behind the desk sticks his hand out and says, congratulations, you're the new editor of the Jolly Roger I said what!

Nobody else has ever come in, it's all yours >>Wow >>So I wrote every news story, the sports stories, I wrote the editorials.

I had my own column, which of course I edited.

I edited everything.

And from that day on, I did some kind of journalist and And from that day on, I did some kind of journalist and junior college rather that community college play a very keep part of it.

>> I have read about principle you have of journalism treat every stories about yourself, it's about something came out with just through years of journalism just general respect for others kinda thing.

>> Yeah, it's a very important thing, one of the great things I learned in journalism.

You don't think of people in groups.

Tall, short, black, white, brown, whatever.

It's a simple thing but if you think about that it's critical.

Never think of people as oh well, they're this or that kind of people.

In fact, I've given a million commencement addresses.

I tell everyone, and it's the absolute truth, that some of the dumbest people I know went to some of the greatest universities in this country.

And they get a degree and walked across the stage with their little diploma and they never had a new idea, they never read another book.

And some of the smartest people I know, went to some of the smallest, tiniest, little colleges.

Here again I ll use myself as an example I've never been able to say, oh well, god I graduated from Victoria College so now I know everything.

I graduated the University of Missouri so now I know everything.

I've done such and such so many this and different presidential debates so now I know everything.

No, no no.

You never know everything.

I mean, we're sitting in a room here with books everywhere.

These are our books.

My wife Kate and my books.

We haven't read all these books!

We'll never read all these books!

Here, I m 83 years old, and I have not had one boring day.

I've had sick days, and I've had all kinds of but I've never had a boring day because how can you be bored with so many things to read so many ideas to entertain so many things to try to get on top of?

I mean I have so much to learn, and I'm still trying to learn it!

Curiosity and acknowledgement to yourself.

To hell what anybody else thinks.

Acknowledgement to yourself that you've got so much to learn.

>> So we're about to speak to Carol Goosey.

She's really successful photo journalists.

She's one of four people to win the Pulitzer Prize four times.

She's our last interview, so just gotta make the most of it.

>> I wanted to be an artist when I was in high school and that was my dream.

I just spent every minute in drawing in the art class, while I was in school, I did community college in Bethlem Pennsylvania My friend gave me a real camera, an SLR, and the first time that print came out in the tray, it was like the defining moment.

I knew that I wanted to take a risk [MUSIC] >> Once you got into photography did you ever look back and have regrets?

Or was it like straight from that time you saw the picture develop it was all straight shooting from there?

>> Never, never regret.

There's so many people in my life now that I started off doing a story on and the story was over and the cameras were put down.

And the relationships remained and they're still my dearest friends.

I mean it's been the best life I could ever have asked for.

I mean, you get to see things nobody else sees, different cultures.

But you girls are really dirty and really tired and really [LAUGH].

Yeah, it's definitely not glamorous, but.

[LAUGH] >> Was there a moment in your life that really spoke to you or kind of.

Made you the person who you are today?

>> When I went through these years of taking care of my mom and my sister dying of Alzheimer's, my best friend died in Liberia covering Ebola on the eve of my sister's funeral.

My pets were all dying, my friends, it was just the worst worst years in my life.

And I went through all this bereavment counselling.

And I kept hearing everyone saying the same thing that We just as a culture, as a society, don't deal well with loss.

We have to put this mask of strength on and pretend it doesn't bother us.

I think anyone with a beating heart has some form of PTSD.

If they do photo journalism, especially, because you see so much tragedy.

>> I wanna go back to your grief thing and I'm gonna try really hard But I lost my sister.

And I know for me like when we were saying repression in my family, that's like a huge thing and I was just wondering what you think is the problem with trying to do with grief and American like you are supposed to be happy and move on, and try to be strong about it.

>> Not talking about it, trying to be strong about it.

Grief is equal to the love and if you love someone, you're gonna hurt and itss not ever going to stop.

I think it just gets to the point where you can you know, make it through the day.

I miss my family, I miss everyone, so much that I've lost.

I feel so alone in the world but I think what makes us more isolate is when we don't talk about it.

and when we don't accept the fact that we all have these feelings and it's okay to cry and just understand each other.

[MUSIC] Take every experience, every part of your history and put it together to do good for the world and become a better person We can all take great pictures but ultimately the goal is to be a person of great human decency.

Alright, love you all, for such a short time [LAUGH].

The word to remember is empathy, always empathy >>Thank you [MUSIC] >>Make sure that the life you lead matters to others, because if it does, it will matter to you.

Make somebody laugh, it matters, make somebody cry, it matters, make somebody kind of, oh my, goodness, I didn't know that, it matters.

If you do things that matter, you will feel that you matter.

>> It doesn't matter where you start It doesn't.

What matters is that you start.

>> Who cares what people say?

Who cares what people think?

I've won six world titles and people are telling me now I can't come back and win another one.

They want you to do well but nobody really wants you to do better than them.

You have to have your own route.

You have to have your own mind.

You have to have your own heart.

You're not the only person that's going through whatever you're going through.

We all are going through, like even at 39 and being from the White House, I'm still unsure about a lot of things.

When people say it gets easier I don't know what those people are because, it does not get easier but I've grown us so much that I've learned to deal with the hard >> Community college, it opened my eyes to recognize that no matter where you're coming from you just can do it.

>> Not going that traditional route, whether that be in community college or not living your traditional life was the best thing for us.

>> This road trip is my favorite thing [LAUGH].

It's my favorite thing.

>>Hearing all these different kinds of stories, I feel, enlightened, I feel more confident, I feel more courage, I feel grateful.

Knowing that I'm a comfortable person which lead my to procrastinate.

And then being in Community College for 8 years, I think I needed that perspective to help push me.

>>Angela said talk minus action equals zero.

So I talk all this talk about how I want to liberate my people.

That's what really spoke to me, it's feasible to do it.

>> So honestly, before this trip, I was just a method of escape.

You think you know gonna change your life, and you think that you know what's best for you, and then you actually try something else that ends up being the best thing.

I realized that I'm just holding myself back.

I have these overwhelming dreams, but I like whisper them to myself.

And I think I need to start actually saying them out loud.

I really can do whatever I end up choosing.

[MUSIC] >> To learn more about how to get involved or to watch interviews from the road, visit roadtripnation.com.