Quick Take
Cabrillo College graduate Kristofer Evans wants people like him to know that it's never too late to make changes for the better. After spending his 20s "on the opposite side of the law," he's an award-winning graduate with a bright future.
Kristofer Evans hit rock bottom before he decided to get sober and create a stable life in his late 20s.
Since graduating from continuation high school about a decade ago, he had been mostly unemployed, was in and out of jail and his health was tanking from years of alcohol abuse. About six months into sobering up and working, he learned he was going to be a father.
Four years later, as a new Cabrillo College graduate on his way to Morgan State University in Baltimore, having earned one of four statewide California Community College Student Leadership awards, he’s full of emotion and joy at what he’s accomplished for himself and his son, Ke’vion.
“I’m at a loss for words, and sometimes disbelief, because I think just 5½ years ago, I was not in this position,” he said. “Overall, I’m proud and joyful.”
Evans, 34, triple-majored in sociology, liberal arts and culinary arts, and plans to get a bachelor’s degree in either sociology or psychology at Morgan State. He’s not sure what career he’ll pursue yet, but knows he’d like to return home to Santa Cruz to channel what he’s learned into helping others in similar situations as him.
The annual chancellor’s leadership award recognizes four students dedicated to equity and inclusion on their campus and in their communities. While at Cabrillo, Evans worked in the Basic Needs program, supporting the Nourishment & Essential Supports Team (NEST), which runs resource centers at both the Aptos and Watsonville campuses.
The NEST provides a host of services, including a food pantry, counseling resources, housing assistance and financial support. Evans earned a Cabrillo College Foundation grant to launch a pilot program called “Chefs in the Nest,” where he and other volunteer culinary students cook meals for students experiencing food insecurity. He also served as vice president and president of the Umoja Scholars Club.
Growing up in Santa Cruz, Evans, his brother and sister had a challenging childhood. He said his mother was in and out of their lives as she struggled with substance use, and his father wasn’t present. His grandmother, aunt and uncle helped raise the siblings, but Evans said his childhood experience of abandonment and fear led him to a near-decade of alcoholism and “living on the opposite side of the law.”
In 2023, he arrived on the Cabrillo College campus feeling like an imposter and undeserving of the opportunities. But within months of enrolling, he met Alta Cilicia Northcutt, the college’s student life director, who Evans said “played a very big role” in his success.
“He has really become this community treasure, a shining light … with quiet strength, with this level of self-love that he had to develop,” Northcutt said. “He has moved from this self-doubt, unsure, to this confident man who can claim space in places that he never thought he could be in.”
In his first fall semester in 2023, being part of the culinary arts club, he helped the college’s student senate host its annual community feasts for Cabrillo students before they leave for Thanksgiving break. Northcutt said at some point during the feast, she and fellow student organizers realized they were about to run out of food.
She said Evans approached her and told her he and the culinary arts club could help. He then went to a store, bought a whole chicken, grabbed his cooking utensils from his car, carved up the chicken and made an entire new meal for the rest of the students.
“That’s somebody who cares about people,” she said. “He has a heart to give, and he has a desire to be a part of stuff, and there was no other prompting.”
Northcutt added that Evans had an impact on her, too.
“For me personally to have a hand in supporting a person’s change is humbling,” she said. “It is something I don’t take for granted. It encourages me to do this better for the next folks.”
Uncle Kraig Evans, who helped raise Kristofer and his siblings in Santa Cruz, said he’s also very proud of how his nephew blossomed over these past several years.
“[Kris and his siblings] have overcome a lot,” he said. “I’m very proud he made it and graduated from college. School wasn’t necessarily the easiest thing for him.”
To be where he is now, over five years sober, with his Cabrillo College degree, having studied abroad in South Africa, and with plans to continue his academic career, Evans thinks about his son, who, unlike him, gets to see his father work hard and succeed. He thinks of photos of him holding his son in his arms as he walked across the stage during his Cabrillo College graduation.
“I’ve broken curses, generational curses. He’s 3. My father was only in my life till I was 2, so that’s another curse that I broke right there,” he said. “These are all things that I’m leaving for my son. These are all things that my son gets to watch me do.”
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