Madison Bell/ Roundup
A car pulls up to a motionless figure lying on the street. As the car gets closer the driver screeches to halt and realizes it is a person, who looked as if it were a victim of a hit and run accident.
The driver gets out of the vehicle and starts yelling.
This is when a local resident realizes her son and his friends were up to their usual hoaxes when she saw their heads pop up from their hiding places in the bushes.
The motionless figure turned out to be nothing more than a life-sized dummy of a man.
This was just one of the many practical jokes that Graham Austen, a criminal justice major at Pierce College, would perform with his friends many years ago.
“In spite of all the misguided and inappropriate pranks, the marathon arguments, disrespect, and general malcontent, Graham’s good heart won out in the end,” said Austen’s mother, Kathy Ann Austen.
Since that time as an adolescent, Austen, now 31, has turned his life around after becoming reunited with his religious roots.
“I was raised in faith and it was always part of me since I was young, but I didn’t always follow it,” said Austen.
During his teenage years Austen didn’t have much focus when it came to anything other than himself. He was expelled from high school and ended up going to continuation school.
“At one point he seriously wanted to legally change his middle name to Trouble,” said Austen’s mother.
At the age of 17 he got his General Equivalency Diploma (GED) and was out of school early.
“When I was a teenager I was really into graffiti,” Austen said. “My friends and I used to run on freeways and on the sides of buildings putting graffiti on things.”
Looking back on his life, Austen believes he is “much more content” now that he has religion imbedded in his life. Not only is he more grateful, but he is also satisfied with the simpler things in life.
After a drunk driver killed his brother, it made him reflect on life sort through his priorities.
“It had me asking the questions where did I come from and where am I going,” said Austen. “So I started searching for answers more in depth than I did before.”
Austen is now a family man with two daughters. He attends church every Sunday and even has taught children ranging from three years old to 14-years-old. His lessons would cover a variety of things, such as honesty, keeping the commandments and learning about the scriptures.
“It made me happy to [teach],” said Austen. “Before I might have shied away from it.”
After taking many years off school, Austen finally went back in 2009.
Currently on the Dean’s List and maintaining a 4.0 grade point average, he hopes to transfer to California State University, Los Angles to earn a degree in criminal justice.
“I didn’t think I’d excel in school when I came here,” said Austen. ” I just kind of took a leap of faith.”
Austen’s secret for success with his schoolwork comes from keeping the Sabbath day holy.
“I know [God] blessed me with things I didn’t have, like my attention span is better, I’m able to focus and memorize things, and I’m able to manage my time efficiently,” said Austen.
Not only has his academic career improved drastically, but his personal relationships and the way he views life has also changed.
“After getting more involved with religion I got closer to my family and friends,” said Austen. “I weeded out the people in my life who were negative influences.”
While Austen believes religion has strengthened his personal relationships, Justin Ganes, Austen’s long time friend said that Austen “has always been a trustworthy and loyal friend.”
Austen is able to see the world in a different way.
“I still have challenges and struggles with a lot of things, but my thinking is different therefore my actions are different,” said Austen. “When I read the scriptures it touches me to the center of my heart where I knew it wasn’t my own understanding, something extra was making me understand things on a deeper level.”