{"id":40808,"date":"2015-12-10T15:22:35","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T22:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=40808"},"modified":"2015-12-11T09:44:45","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T16:44:45","slug":"journey-to-unexpected-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/journey-to-unexpected-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold Axe Winner: Journey to unexpected success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Wilgus<\/strong> applied for the coveted Gold Axe award on a whim, with no expectations of being one of the 22 students chosen from more than 100\u00a0Northern Arizona University applicants. He was shocked to learn he not only received the award, but also was one of two students to win the President’s Prize<\/a>. \u201cI thought only student government members were chosen for this type of thing. I definitely didn\u2019t think it\u2019d be someone like me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justin grew up in what he calls \u201can unconventional environment.\u201d Cycles of poverty, unemployment and homelessness were pervasive throughout his childhood.<\/p>\n

Justin\u2019s parents separated when he was young. His father struggled with legal troubles and addiction, and his mother was forced to move their family from motels and cars to tents and shelters. By the age of 18, plagued with feelings of inadequacy and exclusion, Justin had turned to substances to cope.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt my lowest point I was sleeping outside and panhandling for money to support my habit,” he said. “I was completely lost. I was unaware that I was suffering from the illness of addiction, the same illness that\u00a0contributed to my father\u2019s death at the age of 47.”<\/p>\n

On May 22, 2008, after hitting rock bottom, Justin decided it was time for a life change. He moved from Los Angeles to The Foundation House<\/a>, a non-profit sober living facility in Flagstaff. \u201cI will always remember that day; it was snowing \u2026 in May,\u201d Justin recalled.<\/p>\n

Over the course of eight months, with the help of mentors and an action-based recovery program, he found relief from addiction. Since then, he has remained continuously sober, mentoring those with similar backgrounds and dedicating himself to furthering his education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in gifted courses as a kid, and I loved learning. But at some point, I just grew disconnected. I wasn\u2019t in an environment that fostered importance on education. Going to college didn\u2019t even seem like a possibility.”<\/p>\n

With help from The Foundation House, several scholarships and a tuition waiver from the All Arizona Academic Team, Justin enrolled in the CCC2NAU<\/a> program to study geology and mathematics.<\/p>\n

He has since received a research grant from NASA<\/a>, a first place award at the NAU Undergraduate and Research Design Symposium<\/a> and was recognized as the Outstanding Geology Student of the Year. He also conducts cutting edge research with David Brumbaugh<\/strong>, renowned NAU professor<\/a> and earthquake expert.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustin is one of the brightest and hardest working students I have ever collaborated with on a research project,\u201d Brumbaugh said. \u201cI feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to be his mentor, and watch him progress as a researcher. Justin has had to overcome many obstacles to arrive at\u00a0this place and time in life. He is to be congratulated and emulated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justin will graduate summa cum laude next week and plans to pursue a master\u2019s degree in geology.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justin Wilgus applied for the coveted Gold Axe award on a whim, with no expectations of being one of the 22 students chosen from more than 100\u00a0Northern Arizona University applicants. He was shocked to learn he not only received the award, but also was one of two students to win the President’s Prize. \u201cI thought…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":40809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}