Tri-Cities graduate overcame homelessness, family struggles to enlist in Marines
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Tri-Cities Graduations 2022
Thousands of students will be graduating high school across the Tri-Cities this month. Check out galleries from high schools in the area, as well as photos from CBC and WSU Tri-Cities graduations.
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On Friday night, Austin Mallory walked across the stage at Hanford High School’s graduation to grab his diploma.
And less than 72 hours later, he shipped out to boot camp to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.
Most high school graduates have a couple months to bask in the glory of adulthood — but others get to work quickly on their future paths.
Mallory, 18, is one of those students. Pretty soon, he’ll be working in the Marines Motor T Company, and will be stationed in Yakima servicing transport vehicles for troops and supplies.
“I’ve always liked to work with my hands, but it’s really cool to make something from scratch that nobody else has. It’s definitely a therapy, and keeps my mind off things,” said Mallory, who took wood shop and jewelry-making classes in high school.
This opportunity also will fulfill a lifelong dream — to be among “the few, the proud.”
“I wanted to be a Marine since I was about 6,” he said.
He was initially drawn to becoming a sniper after watching war movies with his dad, who always told him “don’t give up, keep fighting.” He changed his mind down the road, though, on advice to choose a career field that was more applicable to the civilian workforce.
After his contract, he wants to invest in his own mechanic shop in Oregon.
His family has faced several “life issues,” he said, including some issues. He was homeless for about four years in elementary school as a result.
Despite all the “negative energy,” Mallory kept his head straight — he kept focused.
“There’s always negative with positive, and there’s always positive with negative. It goes both ways,” Mallory said from his aunt’s backyard in West Richland. “After all of it, it’s just water under the bridge.”
Mallory transferred to Hanford High School his sophomore year. Just weeks later, the COVID pandemic happened.
“It was definitely weird after getting through sophomore year because we went into that distant learning. Spending six hours a day on a computer, on a screen, isn’t the most favored thing to do,” he said.
Supportive teaching
Last summer, he worked for a semi-truck repair shop. Matched with the experience he received from his manufacturing technology classes at Hanford, Mallory said he believes his high school experience will set him up for success in Motor T.
His senior year, Mallory said he got into wood working. For his final project, he made a side table for his grandparents out of ash wood.
Mallory’s jewelry teacher, Kelley Muntean, has also been something of a “school mom” to him.
“She’s been there for me and is very supportive, but she’s taught me how to make all sorts of things like rings, necklaces, pendants, ear rings — all sorts of stuff,” he said.
He hopes to acquire his grandfather’s silversmithing set when he gets older.
Mallory said he looks up to his brother, who’s incarcerated on drug charges, the most. He was a positive influence on him despite his own challenges.
“It kind of gives me a sense of what will happen if I (steer) off that path and don’t do what I’m supposed to do. It doesn’t seem like it, but my brother is one of the people I look most up to,” he said. “He definitely helped me throughout my childhood. He’s kept me out of trouble.”
This story was originally published June 13, 2022 at 12:56 PM.
