Isaiah Picked a Path for Healing

Isaiah Ruiz, Class of 2024, has two passions in life: plants and helping others. At PCCC, he embarked on a path toward fulfilling both. With his Associate in Science degree in Environmental Sustainability, Isaiah is now continuing his education towards a bachelor’s degree at Rutgers University where he is majoring in plant science with a focus on natural medicine.

 “For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to help people,” says Isaiah. This major combines my interest in nature with that goal.”

His focus is on the medicinal use of cannabis to heal, ease pain, and offer relief to patients. “I want to have the ability to provide the cleanest cannabis possible for medical use.”

Interested in plant life since he was a child helping in his grandfather’s garden, Isaiah was unsure of what he wanted to do for a career after high school. He first enrolled at PCCC in 2016, but didn’t stay long. “I liked learning about computers, but wasn’t really passionate about it. I realized that what I really wanted was to do what I enjoyed all my life, working with plants.”

While employed at an indoor hydroponic farm, Isaiah met the CEO of a company in the cannabis industry. “He saw my interest in plants, told me that there is much more to cannabis than intoxication, and suggested that I could have a good future in the industry,” said Isaiah. 

Intrigued, Isaiah set out for Colorado to explore cannabis culture in depth. “It’s nothing like what you see out on the streets. The cannabis I discovered there is extremely pure, and that is very important for healing purposes.”  

The notion of healing others through the use of plants resonated with Isaiah and motivated him to study further. “At that time, I saw that PCCC offered a course in Environmental Sustainability and that attracted me.”

He returned to PCCC in 2021, when the coronavirus pandemic lingered and classes were still online. “I wasn’t a fan of learning online, but the PCCC professors are excellent and that helped me to enjoy the classes.”

This time around, Isaiah relished college, exploring courses from art history to astronomy and more. His favorite course was Biology II. “I really enjoyed the labs. The professors are very interactive and the projects focused on the kind of work we would actually do in real life.”

He was also drawn to psychology. “I want a deeper understanding of how cannabis – as a medicine – affects people mentally and physically, so learning about brain function was important to me.”

Attending PCCC mostly in the evening, Isaiah worked by day at a vertical farm. “As an automation technician, I gained a perspective on the food processing industry for leafy greens. I learned how to germinate plants, then harvest and package them.”  Later working as an agriculture technician, Isaiah had a more direct relationship with plants and was tasked with identifying their nutritional deficiencies.

These experiences broadened his career aspirations. In addition to healing people with plants, Isaiah also wants to heal the earth with plants, to restore good health to depleted soil, so the plants grown in it yield superior medicinal and nutritional value.

“I want to study soil research, to be a soil doctor,” he explains, speaking passionately about permaculture, the development of agricultural ecosystems with self-sustaining plants. “Basically, it’s about creating a playground for plants to flourish.”

The image of the playful joy in nature captures the spirit of Isaiah’s academic journey. PCCC was a kind of playground that enabled Isaiah’s curiosity, passion, and joy in learning to flourish.

“I am very grateful for the opportunities I had at PCCC,” says Isaiah. “I feel now that I will do everything I can to always keep learning.”   

By Linda Telesco