The painted face on a door appears youthful and innocent. A young woman with a promising future. But Jordan Fugate has lived a life of alcoholism, drug abuse even prison. “So I spent three and a half years incarcerated and when I was released that’s when I moved here. So that’s a pretty good clue at 21 years old when you’re sentenced to seven years in DOC.”
Drunk behind the wheel, Jordan was involved in a fatal crash. But her life has started over, in part thanks to Nevada’s Recovery And Prevention community at the University of Nevada.
Meri Shadley is the program director at NRAP. “NRAP was created to provide a safe haven for folks in recovery because a lot of the time when they go into college, college doesn’t seem like a safe environment.”
It’s in this center on the ground floor of the William Raggio building students striving to follow a sober lifestyle can hang out, study and attend meetings. Daniel Fred is the project coordinator for NRAP. “We’ve run 12 meetings a week this last semester and all but two of them are ran by students.”
Stacie Mathewson is the primary funding source for NRAP. She lost her son, Josh, to an overdose two years ago. She’s now helping students all over the country. “Based on the involvement with NRAP I put out 100 grants to 100 universities all across the United States and was able to help start 100 programs over the past two years based on that pilot program.” University of Nevada president, Marc Johnson, recently announced NRAP will be officially and financially recognized by the University. “It’s going to be a part of our student services program that’s available to all students on a continuous and forever basis.” Students like Jordan Fugate who found a family of other students living clean and sober. “When NRAP opened I immediately found those people and I didn’t have to hide and I got the college experience I craved.”