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Paul Link
First-generation student
Psychology program, Fremont Campus

“I like to tell people that PCC has given me two second chances,” said Paul Link.

The first came when he was a senior at Cañon City High School. He loved learning, but didn’t do well in that environment. Faced with the prospect of needing extra time to meet his graduation requirements, Link switched to PCC’s alternative high school diploma program and managed to graduate on time in 2009.

He tried to start college classes right after graduation but didn’t know what he wanted to do, so he spent the next decade working and dealing with personal hurdles.

“I was blessed with a great family who would do anything for me, but I (always) needed to find a rush,” he said. “I got mixed up with a dangerous group and was going down a bad path. There was a lot of violent trauma, an addiction problem, and mental health issues.

“The addiction and the situations I found myself in only exacerbated (my) panic disorder and led to two extreme depressive episodes. I was practically paralyzed and couldn’t leave the house from roughly 27 to 30 years old,” Link said. “I did seek out help and it took roughly two years to get back into a place where I could go out and start making myself proud by meeting myself where I was and making small steps.”

Through those challenges, he recognized what inspired him: people and psychology. Once that realization came, Link decided to go back to PCC – the first in his family to attend college.

“When I got (there), I was met with the friendliest staff and they made me feel comfortable right away,” he said. “The low cost and guaranteed transfer to many different four-year universities made it a no-brainer for me.”

The transition wasn’t ideal.

“I felt pretty lost and overwhelmed during my first semester and a half,” he said. “But the teachers here are great and will go above and beyond to make sure you succeed. That was the most helpful thing for me. My focus was to better myself by pushing myself and not self-sabotaging like I had been for most of my life.”

As he worked to mitigate a fear of public speaking, opportunities for campus involvement proved helpful. He’s now the vice president of Associated Student Government and a work-study at the front desk.

Link will graduate in May with his psychology degree and plans to transfer to UCCS next fall. He’s interested in pursuing social psychology or criminology.

“I want to learn as much as I can about what drives people and help in whatever capacity I’d be best suited for, and PCC set me up for success,” he said. “The rest is up to me.”