From Prison to the Podium
It’s hard to fathom what words of wisdom someone with nearly a quarter-century behind bars could have for a college graduating class. Turns out, a lot, especially if you’re a person who considers the Green Bay Correctional Institution your alma mater.
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay graduates, friends, family and faculty took in the worlds of this unique Green Bay alum during the Saturday, December 14, 2024 morning Commencement Ceremony at The Weidner, in what can can be described as anything but a typical commencement message. Chancellor Michael Alexander’s introduction and Commencement Speaker Adam Procell’s comments can be read here:
Chancellor Alexander:
“UW-Green Bay believes in the power of education to change lives. For that reason, we provide education to people who are incarcerated. This spring, we graduated our first class of graduates from Oak Hill prison near Madison. Today’s speaker, Adam Procell, was given a life sentence handed down three days after his 15th birthday for a gang-related homicide. He spent nearly a quarter-century behind bars. During his incarceration, he renounced his gang affiliation and published ‘Anatomizing the Gang Culture.’ Adam is a founding partner at Paradigm Shyft, a strategic reentry consulting firm, and is working to unify Milwaukee’s reentry services through a shared reentry resource model called Home To Stay. Additionally, he wrote Act 233, a law requiring the state to establish a community reentry center, and serves as an adjunct instructor at Marquette University. He is also a TEDx speaker, highlighting his work within the trenches of change.”
Adam Procell:
“Good afternoon, faculty, staff, families, friends, and, of course, the extraordinary graduating class of 2024.
It’s truly an honor to stand here today—although, if I’m being honest, I may have had another reason for accepting this invitation. You see, I’m not exactly what you’d call a Green Bay Packers fan. Actually, loathe them….. So, when I got this invitation, I thought, “This is my shot—I can finally get booed off a stage this big!”
Green Bay has always been an important part of my story. This city shaped me, tested me, and ultimately gave me the foundation for everything I’ve become. Green Bay is my alma mater…
This place has a way of teaching resilience, doesn’t it? Whether it’s the long winters, the grit of the people, or the shared identity of being part of a community that punches above its weight, Green Bay is a place where people learn to dig deep. That spirit of resilience, that ability to rise above challenges, is what defines this city—and it’s what defines you as graduates.
When I look at all of you, I see a group of people who know what it means to push through obstacles. Late nights spent studying, balancing work, family, and school, moments when you doubted yourself but kept going anyway—you’ve earned your place here today. And as you leave this campus and move into the next chapter of your lives, I want to encourage you to carry that spirit with you.
Because let me tell you something: life will test you. It will throw challenges your way that you didn’t see coming. And when that happens, it’s not your degree, your title, or your GPA that will define you. It’s your resilience. It’s your ability to stand up when life tries to knock you down.
I learned that lesson here in Green Bay. Like you, I faced my share of obstacles. Like you, I had moments of doubt and fear. But I found a way to keep going, to rise above, and to find meaning in the struggle.
This city shaped me, but I think I need to clarify something. When I said Green Bay was my alma mater, I meant it. But I wasn’t a student here at UW-Green Bay. My “university” was just down the road—at Green Bay Correctional Institution.
That’s right. My Green Bay wasn’t filled with classrooms, professors, or student organizations. It was a maximum-security prison, a place where survival was a daily battle and hope was the rarest commodity. Many referred to it ironically as gladiator school because every day felt like a fight to hold on to your humanity. Side note, (those years began in 1995, the Packers title run where we had one radio station that played Packer pickle commercial, Packer peanut butter commercials, Packer everything commercials, so now you see why I loathe them haha.)
I was sentenced to life in prison at the age of 15. Imagine being a child, walking into a place like that, knowing the world had already decided who you were. At 15 years old, I had been judged, labeled, and discarded. Society told me I was beyond redemption—that I would never be more than the worst thing I had done.
Do you know how hard it is to wake up every day when your story has already been written for you? When the system around you tells you that you are broken, unworthy, and incapable of change?
For years, I believed it. I let those walls close in on me, let the weight of hopelessness crush any belief I had in myself. And then came the hardest chapter of my life—four consecutve years in solitary confinement. Four years in a cell no bigger than a parking space, 24 hours a day alone. No human touch. No real conversa8on. No sunlight.
In that silence, I was forced to confront myself in ways I never had before. It was in those years, locked away from the world, that I realized something powerful: as long as I was still breathing, I had a choice. I could let that system define me, or I could redefine myself.
I chose the latter. I refused to accept the story others had written about me. Instead, I became a student of life. I read every book I could find, studied law and history, wrote letters to anyone who would listen, and dreamed of a future where my life could mean something. Slowly, I began to rewrite my story, one day at a time.
After 25 years in prison, I stand before you now as living proof that change is possible. Since my release, I’ve written legislation, passed laws, and helped create organizations that transform lives. I’ve stood in rooms with lawmakers, educators, and leaders—not because I had all the answers, but because I refused to give up on myself.
And now, I’m here, looking at all of you. You’re at the beginning of your journey, and I want you to know something: there is nothing you cannot do. No matter what challenges you face, no matter what doubts creep into your mind, remember this—you are more powerful than you realize.
If I can go from a life sentence in Green Bay Correctional to this stage, what can’t you do?
The truth is, every one of you has the power to change the world. The degree you receive today is just the beginning. The real test will come when life challenges you to rise above your circumstances, to rewrite your story, and to show the world what’s possible.
So, Class of 2024, go out there and make the impossible possible. The world is wai8ng for you. Congratulations—and, okay okay, just this once… Go Packers. Naaaah just kidding……
Thank you.”
