ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Jason Jimenez, a speaker at Stop the Violence Lynn, sits down in front of the podium while talking to the 6 and 7th graders in attendance.
By ADAM SWIFT
LYNN — Resiliency.
It’s something 2009 Lynn English graduate Brian Castellanos knows a lot about, and on Wednesday, he was one of a handful of speakers who brought a message of resiliency to sixth- and seventh-graders at a Stop the Violence Lynn program held at City Hall.
“This is a room full of young people with hopes and dreams,” said Castellanos. “I was once in those shoes and I remember people talking to me at the middle school.”
From the outside, Castellanos is someone who has achieved those hopes and dreams, a successful high school and college football player who has earned bachelor’s and a master’s degree in criminal justice and is planning on earning his doctorate.
But as he told the middle schoolers during an emotional 15-minute talk, the road to his hopes and dreams has been anything but smooth.
“Stories of resiliency begin with bad news, tragedy and pain,” Castellanos said.
Castellanos grew up on Chatham Street as the youngest of 12 children in a poor family. Castellanos’ mother passed away when he was a young child. The family finances became desperate after another change in the family’s dynamics when he was a freshman in high school. His father was subsequently rarely home, having to work two jobs to support his children. Castellanos lived with his brother, Eddie, until Eddie died of lymphoma in Castellanos’ senior year.
“On August 25, 2008, I received a call from my father at 3 a.m. with a message that I will never forget,” said Castellanos. “I had to head to the hospital where my brother was staying to say my goodbyes … I was able to speak to him one last time and tell him that I love him.”
Castellanos said the moment his brother took his last breath will be forever ingrained in his soul.
“I’d never seen my father cry before,” he said. “This was the time my heart was introduced to true pain.”
Unfortunately for Castellanos, the death of his brother was not the end of his hardships. During his senior year, he spent time living in his car, showering at friends’ houses.
“My desire to never give up was born in that car,” he said.
For the senior, college seemed out of reach, but a school counselor encouraged him to apply. He attended Westfield State College for a year, making high grades, but a physical altercation with another student led to him being kicked out of the school.
A coach at Framingham State University was willing to give Castellanos another chance, and he made the most of it.
“I was able to rebuild my character and rebuild myself on and off the field,” he said. But like many experiences in life, Castellanos said the experience was short-lived.
“Let me tell you something,” he said. “Life is going to hit you in the mouth. It may be today, tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now. The key is to never give up.”
And Castellanos never gave up, even after a serious car accident his senior year of college left him with broken bones and a doctor who said he might never walk again. Three months later, he jogged back into that doctor’s office with a large smile on his face.
“My mission in life is to teach young people that despite what hardships you go through, anything is possible,” said Castellanos. “Just because it might look impossible, it doesn’t mean you can’t persevere through it. I’m an example of a person whose life was engineered for failure, but yet I found a way to survive. My biggest reward is to be able to share my life story with you today in hopes I reach one person. Never be discouraged, never hold back, and most importantly, never give up.”
Jason Jimenez (who got big cheers when Superintendent Dr. Catherine Latham mentioned he’s worked with A$AP Rocky and Whiz Khalifa) told the students about his four keys to success.
To achieve success, Jimenez encouraged the students to stay busy, hang out with people you want to be like when you grow up, be a mentor and to pick five things they want to be or achieve when they grow up.
Jimenez, who grew up near the Lynn Common, has dedicated his life to helping Lynn youth as a football coach at Lynn Classical and as tour director for the Music Motivates Me Tour.
“If you believe and work hard at something now, you can accomplish it,” Jimenez said.
Carolina Trujillo, Essex Media Group’s community relations director and director of La Voz, the North Shore’s new Spanish-language newspaper, spoke about moving to the Boston area from Colombia and struggling to find a job.
“I was a woman, a minority, an immigrant, English was my second language and I had a degree that was not from this country,” Trujillo said. “I felt like everything was against me.”
But instead of looking at the negatives, Trujillo was inspired (with some tough words of encouragement from her mother) to move forward and achieve her piece of the American dream.
“I can do whatever I want, because I am the architect of my own life, and I encourage you to do the same,” she said
The Stop the Violence Lynn Committee originally formed to give the city’s youth an alternative to violence. The group has also organized peace walks and a yearly speaker series that brought U.S Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz to Lynn.
Adam Swift can be reached at aswift@itemlive.com.