Monday, October 21, 2002
Faith works: GC alumni traces
path from jail to culture for service;
Outley receives GC Culture For Service Award with speech to student body
GOSHEN,
Ind. Sylvester Outley, came from a Christian family, but chose to
go a different way. That way landed him on the Texas most wanted
list and in jail. But, in an Oct. 4 speech at Goshen College, the
former convict told of his transformation from prison to Goshen College
graduate and founder of Philadelphias largest drug and alcohol treatment
center.
Outley, a 1969 Goshen College graduate, was one of four 2002 Culture For Service Award winners, an award designed to honor Goshen College alumni who live out the colleges motto of Culture for Service. He spoke during the colleges alumni weekend.
Well acquainted with drug addiction and the hardships of life on the streets, Outley is a survivor and says he prove[s] that Jesus is a powerful transformer of people. By age 30, he had been arrested 86 times for involvement with drugs and fraudulent behavior and received a 10-year prison sentence in 1955.
Outley recalled sitting on his grandpas knee as a child, listening to him try to instill Christian values in him, but said he was too slick to listen to anybody.
A
two-year jail term finally broke him down emotionally and physically.
He was, at first, isolated from the rest of Huntsville State Penitentiary
because of his heroin addiction and placed in solitary confinement
in anticipation of his death. I went in there and got reduced to
an absolute slave, Outley said.
By the end of his incarceration, he was reduced from more than 200 to a mere 160 pounds, but also worked as a crew chief for one of the prisons worker units.
Through the dehumanizing experience of imprisonment, the seed of Outleys faith was planted and began to take root. God became a friend and, as his faith continued to build, Outley said he became more dependent on that belief. I didnt know what it was all about, but it was the work of God, he said. Two of the smartest moves that God ever made, to me as an individual, were to put me in the penitentiary and to bring me to Goshen.
Outley was transformed. He earned a graduation equivalency degree in prison and after his release, on the advice of a Chicago social worker, visited Goshen College an environment unlike any he had previously encountered.
I didnt know anything about white folks, he said. But I felt something (at Goshen) that made me feel this is the place to be. At Goshen, people talked to him and accepted him as he was even when college life became a challenge he felt he could handle guns and drugs more easily than academics. But he remembered a little voice saying, keep the faith.
Outley recalls a fellow classmate in the biology class taught by the late Frank Bishop, professor emeritus of biology Outleys first class in his first semester in college. Roger Beachy 66, a 2001 Culture For Service recipient and R&D Magazines 1999 Scientist of the Year, was his patient biology tutor who helped him strive for a passing grade. When that grade did not come, it was Bishop, who tapped him on the shoulder and lifted him up.
I want you to know, he said, his hand on my shoulder, you are college material, Outley said, quoting Bishop. I learned that I was amongst spiritual giants here and all of them cared equally the same. They were picking up on my faith. They were picking up on my vibes. They knew I wasnt academic material, but they supported me.
Now Outley, who eventually made the deans list, helps other people understand they are good material. I have used that same hand on the shoulders of many, he said.
Everything that you could possibly want, the thing that youre running after, is all inside of you, Outley said. You want discipline its inside of you. You want faith its inside of you. You want courage its inside of you. And if you want faith, you want that kingdom of God thats inside of you and that will make everything else work.
After leaving Goshen with a social work degree, Outley earned masters and doctoral degrees before founding the Socio-Emotional Learning and Family Center in Chester County, Pa., a therapeutic residential program for criminals, as well as Outley Professional Services, an outpatient drug and alcohol facility in Philadelphia, now known as SELF.
Other Culture For Service recipients were Ed 58 and Theo 57 Hartzler Yoder, Archbold, Ohio, and Kathleen Zehr 40 of Lowville, N.Y., recognized, respectively, for their commitment to helping students attend college and work with higher education and the elderly.
Goshen College is a national liberal arts college known for leadership in international education, service-learning and peace and justice issues in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program and exceptional educational value, GC serves about 1,000 students in both traditional and nontraditional programs. The college earned citations of excellence among U.S. News & World Report, Yahoo! and Barrons Best Buys in Higher Education. For more information, visit https://www.goshen.edu/.
Ayo Cole
Editors: For information, contact Ryan Miller at (574) 535-7572 or ryanlm@goshen.edu.
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Outley receives GC Culture For Service Award with speech to student body
GOSHEN,
Ind. Sylvester Outley, came from a Christian family, but chose to
go a different way. That way landed him on the Texas most wanted
list and in jail. But, in an Oct. 4 speech at Goshen College, the
former convict told of his transformation from prison to Goshen College
graduate and founder of Philadelphias largest drug and alcohol treatment
center.Outley, a 1969 Goshen College graduate, was one of four 2002 Culture For Service Award winners, an award designed to honor Goshen College alumni who live out the colleges motto of Culture for Service. He spoke during the colleges alumni weekend.
Well acquainted with drug addiction and the hardships of life on the streets, Outley is a survivor and says he prove[s] that Jesus is a powerful transformer of people. By age 30, he had been arrested 86 times for involvement with drugs and fraudulent behavior and received a 10-year prison sentence in 1955.
Outley recalled sitting on his grandpas knee as a child, listening to him try to instill Christian values in him, but said he was too slick to listen to anybody.
A
two-year jail term finally broke him down emotionally and physically.
He was, at first, isolated from the rest of Huntsville State Penitentiary
because of his heroin addiction and placed in solitary confinement
in anticipation of his death. I went in there and got reduced to
an absolute slave, Outley said. By the end of his incarceration, he was reduced from more than 200 to a mere 160 pounds, but also worked as a crew chief for one of the prisons worker units.
Through the dehumanizing experience of imprisonment, the seed of Outleys faith was planted and began to take root. God became a friend and, as his faith continued to build, Outley said he became more dependent on that belief. I didnt know what it was all about, but it was the work of God, he said. Two of the smartest moves that God ever made, to me as an individual, were to put me in the penitentiary and to bring me to Goshen.
Outley was transformed. He earned a graduation equivalency degree in prison and after his release, on the advice of a Chicago social worker, visited Goshen College an environment unlike any he had previously encountered.
I didnt know anything about white folks, he said. But I felt something (at Goshen) that made me feel this is the place to be. At Goshen, people talked to him and accepted him as he was even when college life became a challenge he felt he could handle guns and drugs more easily than academics. But he remembered a little voice saying, keep the faith.
Outley recalls a fellow classmate in the biology class taught by the late Frank Bishop, professor emeritus of biology Outleys first class in his first semester in college. Roger Beachy 66, a 2001 Culture For Service recipient and R&D Magazines 1999 Scientist of the Year, was his patient biology tutor who helped him strive for a passing grade. When that grade did not come, it was Bishop, who tapped him on the shoulder and lifted him up.
I want you to know, he said, his hand on my shoulder, you are college material, Outley said, quoting Bishop. I learned that I was amongst spiritual giants here and all of them cared equally the same. They were picking up on my faith. They were picking up on my vibes. They knew I wasnt academic material, but they supported me.
Now Outley, who eventually made the deans list, helps other people understand they are good material. I have used that same hand on the shoulders of many, he said.
Everything that you could possibly want, the thing that youre running after, is all inside of you, Outley said. You want discipline its inside of you. You want faith its inside of you. You want courage its inside of you. And if you want faith, you want that kingdom of God thats inside of you and that will make everything else work.
After leaving Goshen with a social work degree, Outley earned masters and doctoral degrees before founding the Socio-Emotional Learning and Family Center in Chester County, Pa., a therapeutic residential program for criminals, as well as Outley Professional Services, an outpatient drug and alcohol facility in Philadelphia, now known as SELF.
Other Culture For Service recipients were Ed 58 and Theo 57 Hartzler Yoder, Archbold, Ohio, and Kathleen Zehr 40 of Lowville, N.Y., recognized, respectively, for their commitment to helping students attend college and work with higher education and the elderly.
Goshen College is a national liberal arts college known for leadership in international education, service-learning and peace and justice issues in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program and exceptional educational value, GC serves about 1,000 students in both traditional and nontraditional programs. The college earned citations of excellence among U.S. News & World Report, Yahoo! and Barrons Best Buys in Higher Education. For more information, visit https://www.goshen.edu/.
Ayo Cole
Editors: For information, contact Ryan Miller at (574) 535-7572 or ryanlm@goshen.edu.
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