Decades after earning his high school equivalency diploma at a state prison for young men, Christopher Medina-Kirchner is a teaching fellow and post-doctoral research scientist at Harvard Medical School. 

Medina-Kirchner was the keynote speaker during a ceremony honoring 29 graduates last week, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections announced in a press release on Wednesday. Attending the ceremony was his first visit back to the Racine Youthful Offender Correctional Facility since his release.

“If you don’t believe that a future is possible, you’re never going to pursue it,” Medina-Kirchner said, according to the DOC. 

Citing his experience in the Ivy League, he told graduates that “I really think that what you did takes more courage.” 

“Getting an education here in prison you have to navigate challenges that most students will never understand,” he said. “You have to stay focused in an environment that makes that difficult.”

The Verge and the Racine County Eye have reported on Medina-Kirchner’s journey, with the Eye reporting that he ended up selling drugs and was in and out of the system from when he was 18 to when he was 25 years old, eventually getting out in 2013. The DOC said that at Harvard, his research involves the effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and he hopes this type of research “can help lead to evidence-based approaches to drug education and public policy.”

Nine of the graduates earned technical certificates in mechatronics from Gateway Technical College. Twenty of them earned a high school equivalency diploma (HSED), and seven of those earned their Multi-Craft Core Curriculum HSED in partnership with the Literacy Services of Wisconsin, which includes a pre-apprenticeship element within the construction building trades. 

After earning his high school equivalency degree at the prison, Medina-Kirchner earned his bachelor’s degree at UW-Milwaukee and doctorate at Columbia University, the DOC said.  

“I hope you never stop believing in yourselves,” he said during his speech. “Your future is not limited by where you started. It’s not limited by your mistakes, by your felony, or what anyone else thinks about you…Your greatest accomplishments likely still lie ahead of you. I want you all to reach for the stars, because I’m standing here proof that sometimes when you reach for one you can actually grab it.”

Staff, teachers and more than 30 family members honored graduates at the ceremony, the DOC said. Medina-Kirchner spoke with graduates individually to offer encouragement and answer questions about the opportunities and challenges graduates will face after release. 

The Racine prison hosts three graduation ceremonies each year to honor student achievements, and 142 incarcerated people graduated from high school or post-secondary programs at the facility during the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the DOC said. 

Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy noted that the University of Wisconsin System’s first incarcerated bachelor’s degree recipients since 1975 were recognized last month. 

Hoy said in the press release that “there are a growing number of opportunities available to those in our care, and it’s worth celebrating the men and women who take advantage of them.”