There are no âtypicalâ students at Napa Valley College. This is one of their stories.
Growing up in Fairfield, California, Chris Lemley didnât strike many who knew him as a candidate for college.
âI was a terrible kid, on drugs, in trouble with the law, ditching school. I was a train wreck,â 32-year-old Lemley said. âI really had no formal education after sixth grade. I attended school, but failed all my classes, even PE. I dropped out.
âMy whole family and many of my friends looked at me as a person who would probably spend his life in and out of jail, except for my grandfather, Leonard, who never gave up on pushing me to pursue an education. He always told me he thought I could do better and wanted that for me.â