Naugatuck Valley Community College
He Made Something Out of Nothing - A Testimonial Wayne Johnson* I, Wayne Johnson, was born January 22, 1989 at Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut. While my mother was pregnant, she was deciding whether or not to have an abortion. My father left my mother in the middle of her pregnancy which would explain why there is only one signature on my birth certificate. When I reached the age of three, my mother was desperately trying to give me the life she never had. Every year I received more gifts than I ever expected. Yes, you could have called me spoiled. My nickname was NUK because I had an obsession with NUK brand pacifiers. Apparently, I had expensive taste as a child since the NUK brand was not cheap. When I turned five years old, my mother got married to a man I did not like as much as I had hoped. The newly married couple had two children together. I began to notice the favoritism my stepfather showed to his children while he excluded me. As a result, I tried to find ways to break up their marriage. I was eleven when I witnessed my stepfather growing marijuana in the basement of our home. My mother had zero knowledge that this illegal activity was taking place inside our house, and I made it my business to inform her. A big argument followed involving my mother and stepfather. Admittedly, I enjoyed when they argued because I always hoped it would lead to divorce. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen during this particular fight. It wasn’t until about two years later, when I was thirteen, that my stepfather was caught in the act of adultery. Their divorce was soon final. Growing up I gave my mother a lot of trouble and made silly mistakes. One time in third grade I took the rent money and handed it out to my classmates. My teacher exaggerated the story by telling my mother that she had never seen so much money in her life. The list goes on to the point where my mother could no longer handle me anymore and my grandmother stepped in to raise me. I gained a lot of weight with all those steering wheel size plates of food. Despite her efforts, I also gave my grandmother a hard time. My mother felt so bad that she placed this type of responsibility on someone else that she decided to take me back. When I went to high school, I got involved in a Bridgeport gang and started hanging out in the North End Terrace Projects, which was not a good idea. I became a thief who robbed for my wants, and I got involved with drug dealers and lots of women. I ended up dropping out of high school in the tenth grade. At that time, my crew of friends consisted of five people – BJ, Flip, D-Dubs, Clay, and myself. BJ and I were on a spree to rob someone late night; this night would be the night that I almost 73
