Miles Folsom took the stage at Holy Cross College in May 2022, selected as valedictorian. The college awarded Folsom a medal, and he decided to accept it with one condition. “I decided to accept it on behalf of everyone else who ever thought that the door was shut, and there was not a way out,” Folsom said. Folsom was sent to prison as a teenager, and he said his “uphill climb” began with self-education. He kept his father’s words in his mind every time he veered off course: “You have to go to college.” Eight years into his incarceration, Folsom began college with Holy Cross College and the University of Notre Dame through the Moreau College Initiative. A few years after that, Folsom was released early, and he took his last semester at Holy Cross.