Evan Malm
Class of 2010
For years, Evan Malm had struggled in school. Diagnosed at an early age with attention deficit disorder (ADD), Evan's doctors prescribed various drugs to treat his condition, but with little success. During his teenage years, Evan attended several different schools in two different school districts in the east metro area. But his grades throughout elementary, junior high and senior high school were poor, and he was unable to find his way out of the downward spiral that he found himself in, which included trouble with drugs and alcohol. Then in 2008 Evan's mother, Nancy, died of a heart attack. That year, Evan left school with no plans of returning.
He eventually found himself employed as a dishwasher in a local area restaurant and in a very unfulfilling and unhappy situation. During this time, a friend of his, Molly Gieschen, encouraged him to go back and give school at least one more try. With the help of Molly and her mother Terri, who happened to be a math teacher at the Forest Lake Area Learning Center (ALC), and the support and approval of Evan's father, Ted, Evan enrolled at the ALC in Forest Lake.
Evan credits many of the teachers and staff at the Forest Lake ALC, including Terri, for helping him find ways of channeling his energy into more positive outlets. Through their support, he was able to remain in school and concentrate on his studies. Not only did he succeed academically for the first time in his life, but a poem that he had submitted to a regional poetry contest took first place. Later that spring, Evan graduated from Forest Lake with plans of attending Minneapolis Business College to study restaurant and hotel management.
Evan downplays the poetry contest as a fleeting diversion, but one of his true passions is music. While studying at the ALC, Evan played guitar in a local band made up of close friends.
Read more about Evan in an article written on June 16, 2010, by Forest Lake Times Editor Cliff Buchan titled "Youth no longer 'on the road to nowhere'".
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