The following is written by Jaime Armour, who graduated from Roots of Success at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. Jaime was able to return to her community in The Dalles, Oregon in 2019. In these blog posts, she will be providing us with updates about how she’s spending her time and energy since returning home.
Upon release from Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, I enrolled back into Columbia Gorge Community College. After completing the Roots of Success program and having the amazing opportunity to teach the course to other inmates, I decided to change my degree to general studies so that I can build up my resume with classes that will complement my instructor’s license for Roots of Success. This term I am taking five courses: Abnormal Psychology, Anti-Bias Education, Communication, Physical Education, and Drawing. I plan to take the last Environmental Science course in a series of three in Fall 2021.
For my final, In the first Environmental Science class, I converted my pop-up tent trailer from electric to solar energy, and last semester I did my final presentation on the Roots of Success program. I received a lot of positive feedback from my classmates who all said it sounds like a great program, that they really enjoyed seeing my enthusiasm, and that they were really interested in the Roots of Success program being introduced to the Columbia Gorge in Oregon. I continue to work to bring the Roots of Success program and course to programs in Oregon. I set up a Roots of Success information page on Facebook that has 120 people signed up who are now following the Roots of Success program through my page. My hope is that enough people will spread the word and the information will get to the right people, which will result in Roots of Success in The Columbia Gorge. Also, I would like to add that I was released from parole three days shy of a year from my release, which is two years early. This is the first time I have been off supervision since 2003. My biggest accomplishment so far!