CEDAR CITY — As a kid growing up in southern New Jersey, Donald Long, like many children, sort of thought he’d be a doctor as an adult.

After all, it’s a noble profession and he imagined he’d live a life of service. Long probably never imagined he’d spend a year bouncing around California veterans affairs shelters for a home or even spending about a week living on the Los Angeles streets just to survive.

Long certainly didn’t expect he’d end up in a small southern Utah city before his dream could slowly form.

But here he is, now just one week from receiving his bachelor’s degree from Southern Utah University, and he’s reflecting on his journey. It’s a journey that took him through the Air Force to a decent job in personal fitness to being a stabbing victim to homeless to a college degree. He’s also looking forward, thinking of the countless possibilities of what he can do next.

New Jersey to Kansas

Long grew up in Millville, New Jersey — a medium-sized city a few miles northeast of the Delaware Bay. He recalls living a normal childhood, where he was an honor roll student in middle school before tailing off a bit in high school.

He felt bored with everything and when he graduated in 2000, he said the military felt like a thrill too good to pass up. That took him to McConnell Air Force Base, just outside of Wichita, Kansas.

For someone who grew up on the eastern seaboard not far from some of the country’s biggest metropolises, Kansas was a completely different experience for Long, an 18-year-old experiencing life away from home for the first time.

“It was a whole different realm. It was a culture shock,” he said. “It just threw me into a different world.”

Long spent a few years serving in the Air Force, but remained in Wichita after he was discharged sometime around the mid-2000s. He fell in love with Muay Thai kickboxing and even fought professionally a few times. He also became a certified personal trainer.

Long started thinking about higher education then and, as he put it, the seed to be a doctor truly became planted as he worked as a trainer.

However, the Great Recession hit around that time and affected personal trainers. Long got a job in the aircraft installation industry and it helped him live a standard, middle-class life. He had a girlfriend, an apartment and a nice car.

But he didn’t want to spend his life in the aircraft industry and he didn’t want to live a life full of regrets. About the same time, one of his cousins in California told him about living in Los Angeles and how Long could make a living as a personal trainer there.

His itch for adventure took him there, but it was a gamble that quickly backfired.

Kansas to California

Long moved in with his cousin in, what he described as, a rough neighborhood in the south side of Los Angeles. It was 2009 and he had spent nearly all the money he had moving to California.

“When I made the move, it was really a naïve way to do it,” Long recalled. “I just up and left. ... When I touched down, that consequence was kind of blatantly in my face.”

While LA has been viewed as helping make dreams come true, living there became Long's nightmare. He said it was a completely different culture than Kansas. Long found it difficult to interact with his neighbors because he said that a simple "hello" could turn into a confrontation.

"It was truly like a jungle," he said. "The people living in those areas were more reactionary rather than being proactive. ... You really can't blame them because that type of neighborhood — it's dangerous."

Long said he spent one night hanging out with neighbors when an altercation broke out with someone he hadn't met before. The man's aggression toward the group then focused on Long, specifically. Another man in the crowd pulled out a knife and stabbed Long four or five times, leaving Long coughing up blood. One of the wounds came within inches of his spine.

Long didn't want to deal with the neighborhood after that, so he left and took very little with him. He felt safer on the streets than in the neighborhood he lived in.

Long called the Department of Veterans Affairs and explained his situation and they arranged shelter housing for him. He bounced around those shelters for nearly a year and even spent a week sleeping on the streets of LA.

"I remember I was just like 'wow, I'm at the bottom of the bottom. There's nowhere else to go,' " he said. "I was just thinking to myself, 'I have to get out of this predicament, I have to get out of this situation. I can't be here.'"

Long figured there was nowhere to go but up and luckily, he found an escape plan. A woman he met in California reached out and invited him to move with her to Utah, if he needed a place to stay.

He politely declined, but eventually decided to take the offer.

California to Utah

Long moved to Cedar City with his friend in 2011. He worked at a telecommunications company known for employing anyone who needed the money, mostly SUU students. He worked there for a little more than a year before working at a nearby gym, which got him back into personal training.

However, he found himself back in his same position in Kansas. He wanted more. So in 2014, he enrolled at SUU.

Ty Redd, SUU professor of chemistry and the school’s physical science department chair, first taught Long in 2014. Redd recalls Long as a hard worker, who immediately treated faculty and students with respect.

Long quickly figured out a regime for student success, including working on homework and reading during times most students would rather watch sporting events or TV. He even left his first semester with all A's.

“He described it as going back to boot camp … (he) was struggling at first, but pretty soon, his work ethic just kicked in and killed it,” Redd said. “I know it was a good thing for him to say, ‘hey, this is higher education and here are the expectations’ because I don’t think he was expecting that — most students aren’t when they walk in the door. That really set the tone with him.”

The hard work led Long to scholarships and research opportunities and he eventually became one of the top students in his class. He'll graduate May 4 in the 99th percentile of all of the university's graduates, with degrees in biology and nutrition and a minor in chemistry.

"I feel confident — I think that's the most tangible feeling is the confidence I've gained over those years," Long said, reflecting on a profound love of science he found in his classes. "This is the direction I want to be headed in. It feels right."

Utah to the unknown

Long plans to attend post-graduate school at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the fall and hopes to go to medical school from there.

As Redd put it, Long may not realize how much he can do.

“He’s maybe not aware just how talented he is,” Redd said. He added Long's creativity can take him far.

Long is certainly creative with his plans. He wants to be a medical scientist, which would allow him to become a licensed doctor and a researcher. He wants to eventually help answer questions in the medical field.

No matter what happens next, Long will once again be at a crossroads much like any other graduate finds themselves in. However, this unknown feels different from previous experiences. He's ready to see what this unknown looks like.

"(In the past), I was venturing into danger, dangerous areas and now you could say there are risks, but they're healthy risks," Long said. "I love it. It's like, bring it on. Let's do this.

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