You have to make choices in your life to succeed, judge tells East High students

YOUNGSTOWN

From birth, the prospect of Michael Ryan’s success appeared dim.

His mother was only 14 when she learned she was pregnant with him. His biological father was in prison, convicted of bank robbery.

His stepfather regularly beat his mother, and they both were heroin addicts. He relied on the free breakfast and lunch at school to eat.

“I was a kid that wasn’t supposed to make it,” now-Judge Ryan told East High School students Wednesday.

The judge, who is Ohio’s only black juvenile court judge, spoke at the high school as part of Nonviolence Week.

Judge Ryan earned a scholarship to Allegheny College near Pittsburgh, he went on Cleveland-Marshal College of Law, passed the bar at 25 and became a judge at 34.

“You have choices that you must make,” the judge said.

Growing up,he chose not to get involved in gangs, even though friends encouraged it. He avoided drugs even though that meant he went hungry.

Read more about his life in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.