When Rebekah Reyes was in the process of sobering up, her thoughts kept returning to her young nephews.
At that time, Reyes had been addicted to heroin and other substances for about five years. Her older siblings, including the half-brother who is the father to her nephews, had their own battles with addiction, and Reyes wanted it to end with her. She wanted to break the cycle for the sake of her nephews, whom she was helping to raise.
“My siblings were essentially addicted to something by the time I was born; I was born into this,” said Reyes, who is a sociology graduate student at Cal State LA. “I had my nephews in mind. They were about 4 and 5 at the time, and I couldn’t be around them anymore. They looked up to me and I knew I needed to be a better role model.”
Reyes, now 33 and residing in Alhambra, has been sober for nearly 14 years. As a recovering addict, her work in breaking the cycle continues on a daily basis.
She will receive her Master of Arts in Sociology during the College of Natural and Social Sciences Commencement on May 21. Her nephews Noah, 19, and Koelob, 18, will be among the Shrine Auditorium audience members who will be cheering her on.
With her graduate degree, Reyes is hoping to teach sociology at the college level, incorporating her graduate thesis into the course.
“How often is there a theorist or an academic professional who has gone through the extreme experience of drug use?” she said. “It’s something rare and something that would be of value in the academic world. I’m not just going off observations and interviews or large data sets, but rather actual immersion in that lifestyle or subculture, if you will.”
For her thesis, Reyes interviewed 10 recovering addicts who have excelled academically and professionally since getting clean. She is challenging a prevailing sociological guideline, which is about 80 years old, that addiction is always linked to childhood trauma.
“I’m searching for patterns of what their addictions were like,” she said, “why, in their own words, they believe they fell into it. More importantly, we want to know what their recovery was like, what worked for them, what approach they took. [One subject] has a Ph.D., others have master’s degrees, one has a [Juris Doctor]. These are individuals who have very much let go of their old lifestyle and now lead very different lives.”
It is something that Reyes has in common with her interviewees. She said she was addicted for almost the entirety of her teens. At 19, she overdosed and had to be revived back to life.
That was the turning point, and she soon made the decision to clean up.
“She’s courageous and focused in telling her own story,” said Robert Weide, associate professor of sociology and Reyes’ thesis advisor. “She shares in the hopes that other people who’ve had similar experiences will find the courage to follow in her footsteps. Those who have no secrets are the most honest people.”
Reyes’ pursuit of higher education began shortly after her sobriety. She initially enrolled at Pasadena City College as a psychology major, but her sociology classes resonated more with her.
“Sociology was able to negate some of the statements that I grew up hearing, therefore leaving me ever more curious about the world around me rather than an individual psyche,” she said. “Learning the impact that social institutions have on individuals expanded the scope of my thinking, leaving me more eager to learn more.”
Reyes earned associate degrees in psychology, humanities, and sociology in 2017 from Pasadena City College, and then a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UC Davis two years later.
Last fall, Reyes was the recipient of an $18,000 scholarship and was named a CSU Trustees Emeritus and CSU Foundation Board Member Ali C. Razi Scholar, the top academic achievement in the CSU system.
Reyes is eager to start her professional career but has not ruled out obtaining a doctoral degree in the future. In addition to a teaching career, she wants to continue working in the nonprofit field and provide support to underserved communities. She currently works at the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles as the education program coordinator for its nonprofit affiliate, Build Hope, Inc., which ensures that residents living in Los Angeles’ public housing developments receive the full social, health, educational, and work opportunities to which they are entitled.
# # #
California State University, Los Angeles is the premier comprehensive public university in the heart of Los Angeles. Cal State LA is ranked number one in the United States for the upward mobility of its students. Cal State LA is dedicated to engagement, service, and the public good, offering nationally recognized programs in science, the arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education, and the humanities. Founded in 1947, the University serves more than 26,000 students and has more than 250,000 distinguished alumni.
Cal State LA is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs, Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center, Hydrogen Research and Fueling Facility, Billie Jean King Sports Complex and the TV, Film and Media Center. For more information, visit www.CalStateLA.edu.
