John DeLisa is grateful for a lot of things the past few years, but foremost is that he survived \u2013 and will graduate Thursday morning at 麻豆原创 with a Bachelor\u2019s of Fine Arts in musical theatre.<\/p>\n
Drugs and alcohol coupled with a bipolar diagnosis led to his hospitalization before he enrolled at 麻豆原创, which is where he said he turned his life around \u2013 and has set about helping others avoid what he endured.<\/p>\n
\u201c麻豆原创 gave me the best second chance I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d said the Oviedo resident who grew up in Palm Harbor.<\/p>\n
DeLisa\u2019s first attempt at college life was as a music student at FSU, but things didn\u2019t go as planned.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy world view was not that great,\u201d he said. \u201cI was medicating myself with drugs and drinking, and not showing up at classes. If I did, I was messed up \u2013 drinking every day, stealing beer from my roommates, writing bad checks to drug dealers.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuckily I had family to pick me up.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he was about to be kicked out of the FSU music program, so instead he took a medical withdrawal from the university and was hospitalized for treatment in Palm Harbor, where in 2011 he started his road back to the life he wanted. He resumed classes at a community college, became active in a substance-abuse recovery program and worked part-time at a theatre to get back on path.<\/p>\n
When it came time to take the next step in 2012, \u201c麻豆原创 was the No. 1 school recommended by FSU \u2013 and it\u2019s just two hours from home,\u201d DeLisa said. \u201cI met with [associate professor] Earl Weaver and it sold me. The campus is beautiful, the area is great, and it felt like the right fit. FSU wrote a nice letter of recommendation for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then he has blossomed on stage and off.<\/p>\n
He has had a leading role in a play every semester he\u2019s been at 麻豆原创 and, as a helping hand for others going through similar substance-abuse challenges, last year worked with a friend and 麻豆原创 Health Services to help start the Students Supporting Recovery (SSR) program.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn set an example for other students in recovery to be proud of their recovery and make the most of their college experience. SSR is an example of living the \u2018college\u2019 life without alcohol or other drugs,\u201d said Tom Hall, director of Alcohol and Other Drug Programming at 麻豆原创. \u201cStudents in recovery attend parties, go to football games and celebrate holidays. The only difference is they have a substance-free college experience. This is an important message\u00a0for 麻豆原创 students who think they can\u2019t have fun without drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group is open to all students, those in recovery and those who support recovery. Next year the members plan to host on-campus sober tailgate parties and other events throughout the year. Following a request from the new organization, 麻豆原创 Housing and Residence Life will offer to place recovering students together in housing starting this fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s only so much you can do on your own,\u201d DeLisa said about the hurdles to stay clean. \u201cYou\u2019re at a dangerous spot, but once you know you have a place to belong you don\u2019t have to drop out and essentially start your life over again. If I can stop one student from going through what I went through, it would be worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For his Honors in the Major thesis, he started the nonprofit Mailmen Theatre Group with fellow student Tommy Hall, and the two wrote a play about recovery that they plan to tour at schools, recovery groups and worship centers around Florida. Hall is the friend who also helped start the campus recovery group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was praying about it and I wanted to combine my love of theatre with my love of helping,\u201d DeLisa said. The play, \u201cA Way Back,\u201d is the similar story of a young addict in college who finds his hope in recovery and struggles to get back. The project, which he calls \u201cdrama therapy,\u201d received a $10,000 Clinton Global Initiative grant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was part of my journey,\u201d he said. \u201cI was always going out and getting drunk. I didn\u2019t really know how else to fit in.\u201d<\/p>\n
While at 麻豆原创, DeLisa has performed in \u201cThe Music Man,\u201d \u201cRagtime,\u201d \u201cThe Pajama Game\u201d and other plays, but he said his favorite role was the nervous and intense Moritz in \u201cSpring Awakening,\u201d a story set in Germany in the late 19th century.<\/p>\n
It was his favorite part, he said, \u201cbecause it was about a troubled young man who wasn\u2019t very good at school and didn\u2019t know where to fit in. It was very cathartic.\u201d DeLisa said that after every performance he would text a family member or friend to thank them for helping him get his life back on track.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn is an excellent student and a talented theatre artist. That says it all,\u201d said Mark Routhier, an assistant professor of directing and acting. \u201cIf he had not come to know who he is and accept the changes he needed to make, he would have frittered away his education and his talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Routhier was so impressed with DeLisa\u2019s devotion to the craft that the young actor earned an internship beginning this summer at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, where Routhier is also director of new play development.<\/p>\n
For the grateful graduate, his way through recovery \u2013 theatre \u2013 is the same as his way into the future, which is summed up in the Winston Churchill quote DeLisa attaches at the bottom of his email: “Never give up on something you can’t go a day without thinking about.”<\/p>\n