now one thing that people do we have
15,000 employees and a lot of times
people assume that our employees come
from certain places and had certain
opportunities but I got to tell you our
15,000 employees took 15,000 different
paths to their job and whether you
believe this or not some of the paths
are very similar to the past you’ve took
and so there’s no better way to end this
and someone who’s walked a path stomp
the path and dominated the path deputy
I want to share a story with you a story
that’s very near and dear to me now this
story just isn’t any old story this
story happens to be it happens to be
your story no wait let me rephrase that
please this story is our story how many
of you are familiar with northglenn of
yours we would say North Philly by a
show of hands North Philly in house
North Philadelphia North Philly for
those who don’t know North Philadelphia
is roughly 15 to 18 miles from this
facility inner city traffic would take
you a half an hour a half an hour to
drive there I was raised by a single
parent in North Philadelphia now let me
be clear I said I was raised by a single
parent however I was not born of wedlock
you see my father passed away just prior
to my birth my early childhood years
were extremely traumatic the years I’m
referring to are those with kidney
garden through the fourth grade now some
of you I don’t take this personal some
of you were and our bullies some of you
instead of
waking each day to go to school during
that early childhood period in
concentrating or learning the alphabet
my times tables or simply social studies
my focus almost daily was on these three
things one would I have my lunch money
taken from me to with my bookbag
be taken dislodge from my back and its
contents the litter of the streets for
me to have to kneel down and pick up
embarrassingly and then thirdly would I
get beat up again this bullying or being
bullied continued for years and it had
this effect on me
I developed at the time a speech
impediment I began to stutter next came
self-esteem mine zero as a matter of
fact if I were at that time to be
engaged with you in conversation I would
be seen my head lowered never making
eye-contact slurring my words slightly
mumbling but then came this last piece
this last piece this was the worst my
nerves became so bad as a result of my
being a victim
of the bullying that I began to pull my
own hair out my mother had had enough my
mother began seeking a means to resolve
this trauma this lifestyle that I was
leading she wanted her son’s safe and
she wanted her son to receive an
education and live a normal life so my
mother began soliciting the opinions of
family friends co-workers asked me what
options might be available for her child
to be safe to be educated then she
decided or came to this conclusion she
said okay I’m going to send my son away
to a boarding school
he also sent away to boarding school now
I’m not able to read minds I’m gonna bet
some of you when I say the words
boarding school relate to boarding
school for the privileged no this wasn’t
the type of school that my mother was
looking to enroll her son in the school
the type of school our boarding school
she was looking into was one for the
disadvantaged children among those
schools the short list of school she had
was the scotland’s school for veteran
boys then there was the Valley Forge
Military Academy but ultimately the
school that we selected was the Milton
Hershey School how many of you know who
Milton s Hershey is yes yes for those of
you don’t know Milton s Hershey is the
chocolate guy
he’s the Hershey kiss to mr. Goodbar the
role of the Hershey with almonds Hershey
PA that’s not less Hershey
so you see Milton s Hershey and his wife
Fanny were unable to have children they
couldn’t have children of their own
so they in turn opted to start a school
for disadvantaged children but they have
plenty of wealth they could have done a
lot of other things you know as I think
back on it Milton Hershey was somewhat
of a visionary somehow another way back
when you see the school was established
and opened in 1909 you see way back when
our that back then he realized that the
disadvantaged children those children
lack in the resources to succeed most
likely would not succeed better yet
think of it like this
Milton s her she was doing pre entry
before re-entry was even popular my
mother enrolled me in Milton Hershey
School at the tender age of 10 his back
in the summer of 1975 I can still
remember what I wore a little afro Chuck
Taylors little fold up picking my back
pocket yeah I had had in I embraced this
environment that my mother had
introduced me to with the help of Milton
Hershey manicured lawns clean streets no
vandalism on the buildings and above all
mom took a lot of criticism she took a
lot of criticism from the neighbors some
made remarks such as you know you’re
sending your child away to a boarding
school aren’t you able to raise your own
child don’t you love your son why would
you send him away to be raised by
strangers some were not so nice and they
made remarks like this I get it you
think your son is better than mine
you’re sending him away to that white
school well mom stuck with her gut and
I’m glad she did I graduated from the
Milton Hershey School I attended there
eight years and once I graduated I spent
a few semesters in college and then
missing the structure the regimentation
of the Milton Hershey School I enlisted
in the armed services when I came home
when I came home I immediately thought
that I would be able to fill out
applications and I would I would assume
that a job with my new employer simply
because they would have reviewed my
application and saw Milton Hershey
School that didn’t happen
instead I spent several months with
intermittent employment with temp
agencies a few months here a few months
there until I landed here with the
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
26 years ago you listened earlier to
some statistics one in particular I want
to point out data tells us that seven
out of every 10 African American males
raised in the single-parent home will
result in incarceration well as I stand
here before you today is a proud
employee with the Department of
Corrections I am also the antithesis of
that statistic because I instead of
entering as a resident or being here as
a resident I stand before you instead as
a custodian instead of being led down
the path into incarceration or the
reentry
I am your deputy superintendent for
facilities management if I were to leave
you with something today I would say
this we must utilize the resources we
have because we cannot do it alone to
ensure our children are driven down the
path of pre entry so that they need not
experience reentry I want
thank Milton s Hershey I want to thank
I want to thank her for the bravery and
sticking with her gut I want to thank
all of you for your attention
during this program I am Kenneth Isan
proud alumni of the Milton Hershey
School class of 1983 go Spartans [Applause]