• A new program at UGA is helping students recovering from addiction reach a special moment in their life… receiving a diploma.
• Josh Schultz says he has now been accepted into UGA’s Grady College and is also in the Collegiate Recovery Community.
• Twenty students in the program. That’s double what it was last semester.

For many students, a walk to class is just another day. But for students recovering from addiction, a walk to class may be an accomplishment in itself. Recovering UGA student, Josh Schultz says,

“As long as my sobriety is in tact, I can do anything.”

And he’s doing just that. Shultz is one of 20 students who have reached that low point in their life, have found recovery, and have now come back to school.

“I basically just come up here to kind of expand my network of people who are in a similar situation that I am.” Schultz says.

He says he has now been accepted into UGA’s Grady College and is also in the Collegiate Recovery Community. Program manager and coordinator, Jason Callis, says many students referred to treatment centers in Atlanta didn’t know this program in Memorial Hall was available to them.

“We are the first one to offer something for kids who don’t have 6 months of sobriety.” Callis says. “We have a seminar or a meet-and-greet time on Thursday evenings for students that are new to recovery.”

The office area looks like a living room. Callis says they check in and cover different topics like school, time managament, and spiritual topics. The end result? One female student called the office in tears of joy because she had been given a graduation date. CRC is getting its name out there and even hosted a tailgate with games in the fall. If the program has its way, there will be more happy tears as these students receive their diplomas.

Noël Couch, Grady Newsource.