David Gurkany is a law school graduate from a life of opioid addiction and crime and is now in recovery.
“I remember waking up one day and realizing I was an addict and needed the drug to function,” Gurkany told CBS News Colorado.
From opioids to heroin use, it led to a life of crime and I wasn’t sure if I could get out of it.
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“Since then, my life has really gotten out of control,” Gulkany said.
He was a student at the Auraria campus when he was arrested, sent to prison, and offered a chance at probation.
At the same time, he was shaken by the loss of his mother and a close family friend.
“I went on for a month, I think, and then I quickly got back into the addiction and kept on the run,” he said.
When Gulkany was arrested, he expected to receive a prison sentence, but was given the option of two years of intensive residential treatment at the Stout Street Foundation.
“Stout Street has a reputation that has been maintained. It’s a really demanding program,” Gurkany said.
Janela Morganflash is the Program Director.
“They seem to have exhausted all options. They burned down every bridge they could think of,” Morgan Flash said of the residents who came.
According to Morgan Flash, Gulkany had performed well during his time in the program.
“He trusted the process and it was just humbling to watch him grow,” Morgan Flash said.
Gulkany struggled to get back to school at Metro State University, graduated with honors from the once-forbidden campus, and decided it was time to tip the scales of justice in her favor.
“I was going to be a lawyer, and from that moment on, I knew I was going to do whatever it took to do that,” he said.
Mr. Gulkany successfully passed the law school entrance exam after his second attempt and was admitted to eight different law schools from across the country.
In 2020, he started his first year at Rutgers as the world was hit by a pandemic.