A man released from Skagit County Jail has now graduated from college, found work, and is helping others do the same through a scholarship fund.

He was given $40 and a bus ticket when he left the Skagit County jail. Now Kyle Von Stroberg has graduated from community college, found work and is helping other convicted felons achieve the same.

While in jail, he met counselors from Skagit Valley Community College who helped him enter the program that has changed his life.

“I went to school and staying busy kept me clean which kept me on the right path,” Stroberg said.

Now he’s a graduate of the Marine Technology Center, where he learned to fix boats.

Dozens of other former inmates have also gone through the program. The college's 'Student Success Navigator' Aaron Kirk said it has made a profound difference in their lives.

“You have a degree and you have real skills and you’ve proven the ability to get to where you’re trying to be,” Kirk said.

Stroberg said that he wants others to have a second chance through the program. He created a scholarship fund for ex-cons with $5,200 in funding he received from raffling off a boat he made called “Second Chance.”

“It takes belief not only in yourself but people believing in you. And if you don’t have that you’re not going to succeed,” he said.

He said he hopes others can use the scholarship and the training to better themselves and their communities.