With a diploma of graduation in hand and his late brother affixed on his white shirt, Jerry Garza didn’t hesitate when speaking on what Fortis Academy can do for someone struggling with addiction and other forces.
The reason he speaks so openly is because he’s living proof of the words he is saying.
“I don’t think I’d be living right now if it wasn’t for this school,” said Garza, an Aldine Independent School District senior who joined four classmates graduating from Fortis on May 22. “It’s given me so many new experiences and opportunities I thought I’d never see. Here, with the teachers and the love, it’s all so genuine and it changed my whole life.”
Last summer, Fortis became just the 11th school nationwide to earn accreditation by the Association of Recovery Schools. As the area’s only public recovery school, Fortis helps students referred by their home district gain and maintain sobriety while pushing them to excel academically.
Garza dealt with many outside distractions, which included losing his older brother and falling into addiction. His mother credits him with wanting more and making the call to get to Fortis.
“He’s had obstacles in his life but with anything, he faces it, he takes it on, and he deals with it,” an emotional Natalie Sanchez said after the graduation. “He’s grown so much with this school. That’s my baby boy and a lot of people said he wouldn’t make it, but he made it and he did it.”
Garza fully embraced all Fortis offered. He and three others in the culinary arts program competed at the Texas ProStart Competition, becoming the first non-traditional campus to enter. Garza cooked alongside award-winning chef Adrian Torres during a campus visit in July.
Through the school’s partnership with nonprofit Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, Garza and other students used poetry and storytelling to build confidence. Garza eventually shared his poem, “What Love Means to a Chicano,” at a local restaurant in front of a live audience.
“Being a student here means everything to me, and this graduation is more than just words I can put together,” he said. “Take that leap of faith and take that transition from being out in the streets and doing all those bad things to straightening your life and getting it together. It’s all going to work out, and you’ll be able to achieve anything you ever wanted.
“This school will bring life back into you.”