The road to success is often long and winding. No one knows that better than Jonathan Quann, who will receive his bachelor’s degree in social work at Temple’s 2011 Commencement.

Despite only attending high school through the 10th grade, Quann worked as a cardiovascular technician at Graduate Hospital (now Penn Medicine at Rittenhouse) for 17 years, assisting doctors who treated heart and artery disorders. But in 1996 he became addicted to drugs and went into a rapid downward spiral.

“I realize now that I had intellect that I never tapped into,” he said. “I didn’t surround myself with people who were positive minded, and I ended up in a bad situation. I felt I had the potential to do great things, but I was letting it slip away through a series of bad decisions.”

After the last bad decision landed him in jail in January 1998, he had had enough.

“I was sitting in that cell thinking, ‘I don’t want this to be my final story. I want to do something different,’” he said. “I wanted to turn my life around. I wanted to be a better father, friend, husband … just a better person.”

While he was incarcerated, Quann joined a program run by Gaudenzia, Inc., a nonprofit organization that helps with addiction and recovery. From then on, he says, he became dedicated to his own self-improvement. He stayed with the program after his release in 2001, and upon graduating, was hired as a counselor’s assistant.

“That was the first time that anyone in the program had gone from being a participant to being an employee,” said Quann. “I think it puts me in a unique position to help other guys who are in the position I used to be in.”

He took advantage of that momentum, and in 2007, graduated with honors from the Community College of Philadelphia, where he received his associate’s degree in behavioral health and human services. Wanting to take his education even further, he began to pursue his bachelor’s in social work at Temple.

Jonathan Singer, an associate professor of social work at the College of Health Professions and Social Work, met Quann in his human behavior class and was immediately impressed by him. Singer told Quann that he had the potential to go far — to get his master’s in social work or even teach one day.

“Here’s a guy who has gone through the system — a couple of them — and can talk about it on a first-hand basis,” said Singer. “He has real, honest experience in areas in which social workers closely work, and it allows him to talk about social work practice in a way that few other teachers would be able to.”

Quann says his family — his four daughters, three sons and grandchildren — have been his most vocal boosters and can’t wait for him to graduate. He praises his wife, Tracey, who he says, “has sacrificed a lot to allow my story to unfold the way it has.” And this year’s graduation is a shared victory: Quann’s son Dontae will graduate from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“I think it all serves as a good example for my children,” he said. “Whatever happens in life, it might not seem fair, but you show up and you do what you have to do and you work hard to get where you need to be.”

With a bachelor’s degree under his belt, Quann’s next step is to get his master’s. With Gaudenzia, he hopes to be able to continue to help people in the same situation he was once in.

“Life boils down to a series of choices,” he said. “I would tell anyone where I was years ago to slow down, be careful and think. Make a better choice for yourself.”