There’s nothing about Terrell Blount to make you think he spent time behind bars.

The boyish face and lanky frame don’t. Neither does his dress — khaki pants, crisp shirt, blazer and bow tie.

In February, he impressed an audience of 500 people at Rutgers University while talking about the effects of incarceration. At Princeton University last month, he did it again, delivering a speech on the same topic as if he were a professor.

Blount never had a criminal record, until the company he kept changed that. He got five years for the robbery his friend did, but he gained a future he never thought possible.

The 18-year-old Newark kid who never liked school found himself taking college classes in prison, then wanting a degree when he got out.

“I just kept telling myself, if I could do five years in prison, I could do five years in college,’’ he said.

Blount, now 28, has done both.

And today he graduates from Rutgers-New Brunswick, which gave him the chance through a program for ex-offenders who want a college education. It’s called the Mountainview Project, an initiative started in 2005 by Rutgers professor Donald Roden, who says an ex-offender with a degree escapes the cycle of repetitive crime and incarceration.

“I think we have a responsibility to reach out to those in custody,’’ he said. “It’s much less expensive for taxpayers of New Jersey to have students at Rutgers than having them in prison.’’

Roden started his prison outreach tutoring at Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility in Annandale, where inmates were earning diplomas and taking college courses. Each time he went, Roden began thinking of ways to bring them to Rutgers.

He consulted with university officials and staff at youth correctional facilities to identify inmates motivated to learn. Blount blew him away, he said, with his ability to articulate his thoughts and relate to others.

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He was a natural fit for the program, which now has 46 students. To be eligible they need a General Educational Development degree and 15 to 20 college credits. Six have graduated so far and eight more, including Blount, will turn their tassels today.

Some, for various reasons, don’t do well, but the majority, Roden said, are in good standing, and several excel. One student graduated in 2009 with a 4.0 grade point average.

Last year, the project's Walter Fortson won the highly competitive Truman Scholarship, given to the nation’s top college students. He’s the second Rutgers student in 10 years to win. Benjamin Chin, another Mountainview protégé, is the third. He won this year.

“The program has changed the trajectory of my life,’’ said Fortson, who is graduating and heading to the University of Cambridge. “I want to spend the rest of my life dismantling the concept of what prison is in America today.’’

The former inmates-turned-students have adjusted and blended nicely on campus.

They started an association to raise awareness about criminal justice issues and encourage students to tutor inmates. Blount, the second president behind Fortson, continues to put them on the map telling their story.

You should have seen him at Princeton, standing behind the lectern, explaining the benefits of this transformative education.

“Programs like the Mountainview Project support the notion that with just two years of post-secondary education after being released, an ex-offender’s chance of becoming a two-time offender are significantly reduced,’’ Blount said. “After four years and completion of a bachelor’s, the odds are even smaller.’’

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But none of it is possible, he says, unless there’s committed family support. His parents wrote him constantly in prison, lacing every thought with encouragement. He says young adults,18 to 23 years old, don’t have the answers and they still need guidance to figure it out.

Since his release, Blount gets the most out of every day, commuting to school from Newark and working a job editing university video. His girlfriend and two kids are counting on him, so Blount is not playing around.

He wears academia as well as his business casual attire, understanding that education is his ticket, trusting that it steers him past the stigma ex-offenders face.

“I once was counting down the days until my bid was over,’’ he said. “Now I’m counting down the days until graduation.’’

Blount, an Africana studies scholar and communication major, can put the calendar down. His bachelor’s degree is a few steps away.

Walk across the stage and get it, Terrell.