Gang Member-Turned-Ph.D. Mentors Youth on the Fringes | PBS NewsHour | Feb. 1, 2012 | PBS

Gang Member-Turned-Ph.D. Mentors Youth on the Fringes | PBS NewsHour | Feb. 1, 2012 | PBS: GWEN IFILL: Now, another in our series on the nation's high school dropout crisis -- tonight: one man's journey from gang member and dropout to professor and his efforts to keep other young men from making his mistakes.

Ray Suarez has our American Graduate story.

VICTOR RIOS, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara: My name is Victor Rios. In 1994, this was me. I was introduced to the nation in a "Frontline" documentary. I was a gang member, a juvenile delinquent, and a high school dropout.

RAY SUAREZ: But in the 18 years that followed, Victor Rios earned his high school diploma, finished college, earned a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and wrote two books on his life and his research on juvenile delinquency. He now teaches sociology at U.C. Santa Barbara and helps at-risk youth navigate the perils of adolescence.

Rios is also a family man with a wife, Rebecca, and three children. Life is constantly busy.

VICTOR RIOS: To be this far into this future, I feel like I have lived two lifetimes.