Overcoming Adversity

When former police officer Kevin LaChapelle crossed paths with two inner-city, at-risk young men in California, three lives changed forever. In Overcoming Adversity, LaChapelle shares the inspirational story of how this transpired.

In this memoir, LaChapelle narrates how he met Jose Orozco and Agustin Pea and how he mentored and encouraged them to follow their big dreams and attend college. In turn, it describes how the two young men challenged LaChapelle to earn a college degree while living with ADHD.

Overcoming Adversity tells this story to shed light on LaChapelle's work as executive director of the nonprofit PowerMentor project. Since 1990, he and others have been impacting people's lives through mentoring. Bringing wisdom gained from a diverse background that has included experience as a police officer, an author, an instructor, a professor, and health-care administrator, LaChapelle develops future leaders by modeling leadership behavior, connecting with them, and involving them in purposeful real-life projects. His mentees have risen to leadership roles, many evolving from high school dropouts to lawyers or law enforcement officers.