Joshua Weiner, an associate professor of English, calls Betts "the most extraordinary student I've worked with" in eight years at College Park. He said his student showed "incredible maturity" in and out of class, and he called him both a natural teacher and a powerful writer.
"He's got a very quiet charisma, and he's personable," Weiner said. "There's a kind of open, generous quality to his nature which makes people want to help him, and he knows it. He's using it for the good."
Still, Betts said he's living "with these two worlds in my head," his twin identities as a convicted felon and a promising young poet.
He can't escape the dichotomy if he tried. He got lost when he drove into the District of Columbia to drop off commencement tickets at his father's house, he said, and pulled up next to a police car to ask directions. He said an innocent encounter turned tense when the officer, apparently suspicious, grilled him about being in the neighborhood, then wrote him a ticket for not having his seat belt buckled.
Betts appreciates the irony, but it still hurts. That tension infuses his writing and purpose in life, he said. He hopes through his work and the way he leads his life to expand opportunities for those without them, to help others like him who need help rebuilding a productive life. And in a way, he said, he hopes by doing that to make amends to his victim, and to all crime victims.
"I hope that in the end, there's hope of redemption ... then there's also hope that I can move on with my life," he said.
