“My boy was in a coma for years, and because of MSC he woke up,” said Josh’s mom Debora.

Ninth grade was when Josh finally dropped out of high school. He had missed so much school he didn’t feel there was a way to catch up. His mother had recently left a relationship with a man who was not nice to Josh. Josh was scared to do much, so he didn’t really leave the house. Josh tried online high school, but it wasn’t a good fit for him. He was in the depths of depression and nothing his mom tried to do seemed to help. Josh had spent about ten years like this.

Last April, Josh’s mom got him in to see a doctor who was finally able to point Josh in a direction to help him climb out of his depression. The doctor suggested he contact MSC about earning his GED.

Josh met with a MSC case manager and started studying for his GED right away. He also was connected with MSC’s WIOA case manager (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act for Out-of-School Youth ages 16-24) who started working with him on his employment goals.

In just under three months, Josh celebrated his 21st birthday with both a GED and a great internship! Josh passed his tests with honors scores, scores so high that Highline College said he would be able to start college with some credits already under his belt. He was placed in a paid internship with the Port of Seattle and has been given a lot of responsibility in a short time. His main duty is to audit the safety conditions of the ramps and tarmac markings and report if there are any issues.

“It was a great relief when I got the internship. I finally had something,” shares Josh. Josh wants to land a permanent job, go to college, and pay for it all himself. Long-term, he sees himself either working in the computer industry, in carpentry, or maybe in air-traffic control. “I’d like to have a wife, a baby girl, and a white-picket fence. I’m pretty simple, I don’t need anything much, just my family.”

“This has been such a burden on my heart for so many years,” Debora shared. “I was so worried what would happen to him; I’d let him down and was there something I should have or could have done? With MSC’s help, he’s done a 180 and I’m so joyful.”