Worcester Business Journal Special Editions

C O O L S T U F F 2 0 2 2 • A Guide to Career Opportunities in Central Mass. 9 W hen I graduated high school, my GPA landed me in the bottom 20 of the Westborough High School, Class of 19999. Fortunately, my SAT scores and a great letter gave me entrance to Bridgewater State University. I chose communications as my major and was destined to become an on-air personality at ESPN. Getting caught with weed on a dry campus derailed that dream quickly. I was asked to leave the dorms during my first semester, and I ended up living off campus. I was able to finish the first semester of my sophomore year before a letter from the registrar told me I owed $8,000. I had for- gotten to complete the FASFA. Without any other financial support, my time as a stu- dent ended. After battling homelessness and holding down jobs at fast-food restaurants, I enrolled in the U.S. Navy after a few years. I envisioned the Navy as the pathway to a better life and still dreamed of making big as a sportscaster. That military plan halted when I was declared permanently medically unsuitable for any military service due to rare eye dystrophy. It's 2001, and I returned to Massachusetts with temporary housing, enrolled in my local Job Corps, and completed a trade edu- cation in the now defunct business clerical field. The trade taught basic office functions of managing an office and even sending a facsimile. In 2002, I was hired as a receptionist at Paul Davis Restoration, a property insur- ance restoration specialist. The Shrewsbury company handled emergency disasters like fires, floods, and other disasters that effect- ed commercial and residential properties. I learned behind-the-scenes insurance work as I worked with local insurance com- panies like the Hanover Insurance Group of Worcester and commerce MAPFRE in Westborough. Two years after starting at PDR, I was promoted to assistant project manager and was responsible for scheduling and managing the day-to-day operations of the company's $1.7-million portfolio. I was then recruited from PDR in 2004 to work for ARS Restoration Specialists as a project manager for its Worcester office. Working as a project manager, I was in the field more and got to work on some of the wildest claims. The 60-foot pine tree that broke off speared a two-story North Brookfield house's roof, whose top was sticking out in the basement was an inter- esting rebuild. This work was exciting and provided a hybrid of behind-the-desk and in-the-field work that I greatly realized I value. The job also came with a company phone and car. Simultaneously I volunteered at an after- school program and always wanted to sup- port disadvantaged young men. The man- agement, communications, and supervisory skills I learned in the restoration industry, combined with my desire to support Worcester's young people, prompted me to move on to work at the Worcester Public Library and start my own estimating busi- ness. After three years at the WPL, in 2015, I went to work for Straight Ahead Ministries, a Worcester nonprofit whose mission is "to see Jesus Christ transform juvenile delin- quents." At Straight Ahead, I took on every leadership opportunity that presented itself as well as educational pursuits. In a year, I moved from outreach worker to site director. I enrolled in Boston University's nonprofit and management leadership program and AdCare Treatment Center's Black addiction counselor educa- tion program. Straight Ahead decided to no longer pro- vide the grant funding for my work and my position. Legendary Legacies Inc. was born to continue the work. I didn't set out to become an executive director of a human service nonprofit, but there is no more rewarding job for me. To play a tiny part in assisting participants and staff to pursue their full potential is a great joy. Although the pathway to success is not straight, all things will work out for good in the end, and if it's not good, then it is not yet the end. n BY RONALD B. WADDELL JR. How I went from the bottom of my high school class, to being homeless, to running my own nonprofit Ronald B. Waddell Jr. is the founder and executive director of Worcester nonprofit Legendary Legacies, dedicated to helping young men find successful paths forward in life.

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