Testimony of Faith: Thomas Barker

Testimony of Faith: Thomas Barker

Newsvine Editor Leo Aguilera with Thomas Barker and Kristy Zapien.

INTRO

Since we included our graduates in this issue, we decided to focus on the accomplishments of one of our outstanding young people, Thomas Barker, in hopes that his life will be an inspiration for others young and old.

Although never graduating from middle school and dropping out of high school at the start of his senior year, Thomas Barker, not only graduated with honors from Modesto Junior College, but was also chosen as its graduation speaker. Remarkably, Thomas was its only history major ever to be accepted into the prestigious university, Cal Berkeley, whose acceptance rate is just under 17%. What changed the life of this once unmotivated student?

FAMILY LIFE

Thomas with his mother at his baby dedication in 1998.

Thomas shares his testimony to the KREW children at his last KREW session before he goes off to UC Berkeley.

Thomas with his fellow Bible quizzer, Noah Wells. Thomas went on to become the Western District’s Quizzer of the Year.

Roughly nine years later the family returned to Revival Center to stay, and Thomas was baptized in Jesus’ name and filled with the Holy Ghost.

Thomas was born into a family which struggled with addiction and physical abuse. His father, Bill Barker was addicted to meth and alcohol. He was monstrously mean and violently abusive. His mother Carol was hopelessly addicted to drugs. Thomas remembers searching through dumpsters for leftover food for snacks for his sister and him to eat. His mother remembers

Thomas wandering down to the river near their house as a child unsupervised, now terrified at the thought of what could have happened to her young son. Addiction ravaged the marriage of Bill and Carol and they divorced. Carol later married another Bill, William Paul and they started attending Revival Center when Thomas was nine years old. Thankfully later, God miraculously delivered Bill Barker. He received the Holy Ghost and was baptized

in Jesus’ name and now teaches an anger management class at the UPC congregation in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

The Paul family began faithfully attended church, exposing Thomas to Holy Ghost anointed preaching and prayer. Young Thomas felt God’s spirit tugging at his heart, repented, was baptized in Jesus’ name, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. He right away became very involved with Bible quizzing, which he credits with not only putting the word of God into his heart, but also teaching him how to memorize and quickly recall large passages of information. He was also surrounded by children and adults who positively influenced him with their dedication and passion for God. Thomas did so well in Bible quizzing that he was awarded Quizzer of the Year for the Western District and even went to Nationals! Even though

Thomas achieved success in Bible quizzing and was faithful to church, he was indifferent to his academicsuccess in school which would lead him down the road to becoming a high school dropout.

ACADEMIC INDIFFERENCE

Thomas’ apathy became apparent beginning in middle school. Although he participated in class discussions, he

never turned in his homework. His grades were so dismal, that he did not participate in his eighth grade graduation, and was merely moved onto high school. Academic failure seemed certain to follow him into high school and beyond.

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High school began where middle school left off: a continuation of dismal grades. But Thomas was about to meet a teacher in his sophomore year who would be key in beginning shifting the direction of his life. After earning all D’s and F’s the first semester of his sophomore year, Thomas walked up to his English teacher, Julia Quinn and said, “You watch, I am going to get a 4.0 this semester in every one of my classes.“ When Thomas got his report card at the end of the semester and had all A’s, he told her, “I did it! I did it!” Seeing his potential, Ms. Quinn enrolled him in AVID, a program that supports college readiness. She also got him enrolled in IB English where he was surrounded by highly motivated students for the first time. Unfortunately, his ways did not change, and he continued to get D’s and F’s in his classes, although he did get a C- in his IB English class. Thomas also gives credit to his junior US History teacher, Christopher Peterson, who sparked his interest in history. He was very impressed with the skillful teaching of this California Teacher of the Year. If only he would have turned in the homework for his classes or taken summer school classes to make up for his missing credits, he could have been on track for graduation, but Thomas remained unmotivated and unconcerned. During the first semester of his senior year after looking at his high school transcript, he thought what’s the use of going to school because I’m not going to graduate, so he dropped out. When asked why he was so unmotivated, he said: “There was no inherent goal. From K-10, I really never heard about college. I didn’t know the importance of it. I was just going through the motions. My mindset was that I’m not going to school to learn anything; I am just going to school not to get in trouble for not going.”

Thomas Barker with Newsvine editors Leo and Virginia Aguilera prior to his graduation speech at MJC’s 97th commencement.

A HUGE TURN AROUND

At this time, Thomas was working at Taco Bell, faithfully attending church, and dating Sister Kristy Zapien, a senior in high school. “We were both fully invested in church,” he said. When looking for a prospective girlfriend, he followed the advice of his pastor: find the person you date in the altar. When it came time to sign up for college in April of that year, Kristy was surprised to find out that Thomas had dropped out of high school as she assumed they would both be attending college together. She encouraged him to enroll in Modesto Junior College as students only needed to be 18 years old and able to benefit from taking classes. She was not worried because she knew he could handle it. When he found out he could attend MJC without a high school diploma, he got busy, passed the GED

on his first attempt without even studying and completed the required prerequisite courses. In addition to Kristy, he was also positively influenced by the example of his college educated church friends, Joshua Aguilera, Noah Wells, and Scott Boyle. He was on his way!

FROM HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT TO COLLEGE SUCCESS!

Thomas began MJC with low expectations. “I thought I’d give it a try,” he said. However, with the encouragement of the staff and professors, Thomas finally saw his mindset shift. He was energized by his instructors and finally saw himself succeeding. He was particularly impressed by his English professor, Sam Pierstorff (“He is a wiz,” said Thomas) and his history professor, Dr. William Newell, both gifted and passionate instructors. He graduated from Modesto Junior College in May of this year with a GPA of 3.82! He beat the odds by completing his coursework within two years time--only about 18% of MJC students achieve this. In addition, he was among the approximately 15% of students who met the requirements to transfer to a four-year university. He applied to all the top public universities in California: UCLA, UC Davis, and UC Berkeley, as well as all of the CSU’s. “I got accepted at every college I applied for,” said Thomas. He received full rides at all the universities except for UC Berkeley, but chose it because he felt it had the top history department. He will be attending the University of California, Berkeley, this fall with his eye on becoming a college history professor.

GOD’S BLESSING AND FAVOR CONTINUE

Thomas applied for and was awarded the Achievement Award Program scholarship. He was one out of 7 transfer students to receive it. “It is an insanely competitive one,”

said Thomas, and it is funded by Berkeley Alumni. He will receive $6,000 annually, plus he will receive a free laptop. He also decided to apply and audition to be the MJC student graduation speaker. He felt he had a compelling story and was anxious to publicly give glory to God for his accomplishments. He almost backed out at the last minute, but we were all thrilled when he was selected by the interview committee made up of faculty and administration. His academic journey was chronicled in the commencement program which included such quotes as: “No longer content watching other people achieve amazing accomplishments, Thomas turned to his church community, led by Pastor Todd Johnson, and God for the ‘backbone’ in his life, the power to overcome.” His article concluded with the statement: “He also extends deep gratitude to his church for instilling in him the concept of never giving up.” All glory to God for taking this high school dropout and miraculously turning his life around!

Congratulations to MJC commencement speaker, Thomas Barker!