Jeff Turner’s future is turning brighter each day with a rap
album out and a high school diploma under his belt after witnessing
the death of a friend eight months ago and nearly giving up on
everything.
Morgan Hill – Jeff Turner’s future is turning brighter each day with a rap album out and a high school diploma under his belt after witnessing the death of a friend eight months ago and nearly giving up on everything.
Turner, 19, is one of 37 students graduating from Central Continuation High School, an alternative to traditional campus in the Morgan Hill Unified School District.
Turner has all the smarts he needs to succeed: He’s a sharp dresser, confident, an infectious talker and as about as positive as someone can be.
But when he enrolled at Central three years ago, he had a major problem with authority figures – especially males – after spending nine years bouncing around in foster care homes from Gilroy to Milpitas to Cupertino.
“I thought I was a bad ass,” said Turner, sometimes known to wear suits and crocodile loafers, in an interview at Wednesday’s graduation rehearsal, adding he never spent more than a year at any one school before attending Central. “When I got here and I saw kids just like me. The whole school helped me … my teachers tried really hard with me, because they knew I had potential … It won’t be forgotten.”
The Central campus opens its doors to about 100 students seeking a different way to learn they couldn’t find at a traditional campus. Because there are only four teachers, students and faculty interact with each other more as a unit. Students often have a teacher for more than one class in a day and therefore have chances to get help with more than one subject at a time.
In this nurturing environment, Turner proved himself to be as adept at the books as with the beats he turns out in his bedroom studio, where he just finished producing a rap album on his computer.
On Thursday, he released the debut CD, called “The Element,” promoting the disc around town.
Music is his passion, but he holds a day job as an AT&T salesman.
Turner finished up his credits in December, racing to beat the clock before his 19th birthday. At that age, he would no longer be able to enroll in high school, just adult school.
He dedicated himself to reaching his goal. Teachers described him as an effervescent young man who never backed down from life’s challenges.
“He worked hard at everything he did,” said Gail Webb, a math teacher at Central. “He never gave up. Even when he came to dead ends, he’d find a new path.”
Turner hit a major road block last fall most people are fortunate enough to avoid – a train hit and killed his friend, 18-year-old Victor Sandoval, in front of his eyes. He and Sandoval had been hanging out with friends near the Depot Street Caltrain station when the accident occurred.
“I lost my reason to continue,” Webb said. “But these teachers really made me think how I should use what I have instead of just watch it waste away.”
Central Principal Irene Macias-Morriss said Turner’s ability to overcome the tragedy, along with other adversities, and his irresistible personality, proves he’ll succeed.
“He came to us from a difficult past and overcame so much,” she said. “He’s so charismatic … and a natural leader.”
Christina Turner couldn’t be prouder of her son, who has lived with her for the last three years in Morgan Hill. She marvels at the computer skills he developed to record his music. She’s in awe of his fierce dedication to goals he puts his mind to accomplishing.
“I know he’ll make it,” she said affectionately. “I know he can do anything.”
