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Halloween is a holiday generally associated with dark imagery. For Emanuel Wright, Halloween a year ago is when he finally saw the light and now is helping others to the see that light through speaking to various groups about his experience.
That Halloween day, Wright walked into the hallways of Edisto High School anticipating a normal day, but it turned out to be anything but normal.
"I was just going to school to be going to school," Wright said of his life before that faithful day.
Embroiled in a life of gang activity and habitual marijuana use, Wright then did not view school as a resource but merely as a place to joke around with his friends. At that time, Wright was walking a tight rope toward graduation and had eight discipline referrals to his credit within the first nine weeks of school.
It was discipline issues that had him nearly expelled from Orangeburg-Wilkinson. His mother, Charmainne, had Wright transferred to a school in Anderson. Wright stayed on the straight and narrow for a while, but, "then I got back into the same things." He dropped out his junior year but returned to Orangeburg and gave Edisto High School a try.
He described his life before Halloween 2006 as centered around drug dealing, robbing and stealing.
Then Wright sat down in teacher Angela Bunch's biology class last year and was unable to move.
"It was like I was in a possessed stage," Wright said of his unexpected condition.
An ambulance was dispatched, and Wright ended up being treated at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Doctors failed to pinpoint Wright's exact condition but eventually he was released.
Wright immediately viewed the episode as a wake-up call.
"I haven't seen anything the same since then," Wright said.
Wright has channeled the negative experiences of his life into a positive through the help of the New Direction program and his church, New Life in Christ Ministry. Instead of being involved in gangs and drugs, he is now preaching against them.
Wright gave his speech to Job Corps students in Bamberg last Tuesday. It was his third speech to a different audience. Previously, he spoke at his church and began by speaking to New Direction students at the suggestion of the program's director Elaine Kelly.
"There is another way out," Wright told an assembly of Job Corps students. He said he found his way out by devoting his life to God and the church. Wright says he now turns to the Bible to gain a sense of understanding and purpose.
Around June when his favorite team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, were struggling to get past the San Antonio Spurs' .jpgling defense in the NBA Finals, Wright, too, was struggling to get past temptations. Unlike the Cavaliers, Wright did not lose his battle.
He said his faith and knowing that over the last year he had established himself on the right path pushed him through those tough times.
His pastor, the Rev. Warren Smith, first saw Wright's demeanor evolve a few months after he first began attending church.
"His thoughts were actually changing," Smith said.
So were his grades as each quarter saw Wright's average improve dramatically. By the time the final quarter ended, he had turned from nearly failing out of school to having a 93 average.
"I hadn't got on the A-B honor roll since middle school," he told his audience at Job Corps.
One source of this transformation was the New Direction program, Wright said. The program listens to the issues of at-risk children and helps them to address those issues. In addition, the program attempts to map out a future plan for them. Apparently for Wright, the title of the program was an apt description.
"I came in with one direction and came out with a new direction," he said.
He said many of his former friends became distant after he changed his ways, something he alludes to during his speeches. He encourages crowds not to personalize violent rap lyrics to themselves or hold rappers with such esteem.
"50 Cent. He's getting money, but it's no money in my pocket," he said to the Job Corps students.
Wright hopes to inspire his audiences to look for a positive way to become a success.
Success is something Wright himself is now aspiring toward, and he realizes that his actions before Halloween a year ago will still be a setback to his goals. It's a challenge Wright openly accepts and realizes without fear.
"I goofed around school for six years. A few good semesters isn't good to change that," he said.
Wright is currently working full time and hopes to attend Southern Methodist College next semester. From there, he eventually hopes to transfer to the University of South Carolina to study business management.
In the meantime, Wright said he will continue to give speeches to help others make the transformation that he has undergone.
"When I spoke, it just moved everybody. I realized that the Lord sent me here to tell my story," Wright said of his first speech.
T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached by e-mail at ltant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-534-1060. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.