6.24.21

For some adult learners at WSU, college is a second chance at life

Bill Wilson is far from your typical student at Wichita State University.

He is 60 years old. He has served several years in prison. And most of his adult years were spent fighting the demons of drug and alcohol addiction.

Now, though, he’s one of about 2,100 students classified as an adult learner at Wichita State.

“He’s an enthusiastic student, hungry for knowledge and personal development,” says Pamela O’Neal, director of WSU’s Office of Adult Learning. “His past is just that – his past. His eyes now are squarely on his future.”

Wilson is pursuing a degree in social work with the hope that he can land a job that will allow him to help others avoid making the mistakes he did.

“As a person who has been through the trauma of 38 years of addiction and 11 total years of incarceration, I want to share my experiences to help others avoid the pitfalls I encountered so they can live productive lives,” says Wilson, a recipient of the Osher Reentry Scholarship for adult learners.

Wilson’s troubles began at an early age, when he and his siblings were taken from their parents and placed in foster care. At 15, he was able to return home, but years of what he describes as physical and sexual abuse in the foster care system had already put him on the wrong path.

At 17, he joined the U.S. Marines. Stationed in California, he went AWOL two years later, returning to Wichita after he learned his father had died of cancer. After about a year, the military tracked him down and court-martialed him.

“I was 20 years old and at the height of my addiction,” Wilson says. “I received a bad conduct discharge, which is something that still bothers me today. I love America and I loved the Marine Corps. It was just bad timing.”

He turned to a lifestyle of crimes to support his addictions, eventually getting arrested and serving about six years in prison. “I didn’t do anything to better myself in prison, so when I got out, I was drinking that same day. I went back to drinking and drugging.”

He was homeless for a while, but with the help of a community program for those in need he was able to get an apartment. Still addicted, he sank so low that he concocted a plan to rob a bank just so he would get arrested and sent back to prison.

“How bad is that?” he says. “I didn’t care. I was mentally, physically, spiritually shut off from what a person should be.”

He did rob a bank, and with the money still on him, turned himself in.  He was sentenced to about five years in prison.

“It was the best thing to ever happen to me,” Wilson says. “It gave me the time to get my mind right. The next best thing I ever did was become a Christian while in prison. There was a college program there, and I took every class I could.”

He was released in 2018 with the resolve to spend the rest of his life trying to make up for his misspent years.

“I thought – I’ve always taken from society, I’ve never given back. I wanted to finally be a giver.”

Today, Wilson is sober, thanks in large part to Alcoholics Anonymous. He is actively involved in his church and tries to help others understand the importance of faith. At WSU, he received the 2021 Adult Learner of the Year award, the criteria for which includes a GPA of at least 3.0, perseverance in obtaining a degree and having leadership qualities.

“My life is transparent today, I don’t have any secrets,” Wilson says. “But if I can use my past to show other people how they can overcome their own challenges, that’s what I want to do.”

Bill Wilson hopes to graduate in spring 2023. He will be 62.

Scholarships for adult learners with financial need are in great demand. Learn more about how you can support adult learners by contacting Lynette Murphy, WSU Foundation senior director of development, at 316.978.7307 or lynette.murphy@wichita.edu.