USD Magazine Summer 2016

CLASS  NOTES by Karen Gross W

Chris Yanov turn dreams into reality [ p o t e n t i a l ] THE LONG VIEW

the negative influences. We focus on accomplishing our goals on the other side of the tightrope.” To date, the soft-spoken and unassuming visionary has brought more than a thousand kids safely across that tightrope. Like Daniela Conde ’15 (BA), all of Yanov’s Reality Changers are first generation college-bound kids, most of them immigrants themselves or children of immi- grants. Conde was born in Mexi- co. Her parents brought her to the U.S. when she was 7. After they split up, she and her three sisters were raised by their undocument- edmother, who moved the girls across the country in search of work and family support. They finally settled in Solana Beach, Calif. While Conde became a citi- zen at 11, her mother had to wait several more years before she was granted permanent residency. “I saw education as a way to

hen Chris Yanov ‘03 (MA) spun that wheel on Wheel of Fortune, 15 years ago, he couldn’t possibly have predicted just whose for- tune would be changing. Most people take their game show winnings and reward themselves. Yanov —who then was just 22 and a graduate student at USD— parlayed his $23,200 jackpot into an idealistic nonprofit that is literally transforming lives. “I remember telling somebody back then if this doesn’t work, if it only lasts for a week or a month, then I’m done trying,” Yanov says, taking a rare break in his bare- bones City Heights office. “I’d

been working with gang mem- bers unsuccessfully for five years.” But his luck was about to change. While pursuing master’s degrees in international relations and peace and justice, Yanov managed to stretch his TV win- nings over two years. Instead of having to work to make ends meet, he devoted the bulk of his spare time to developing a differ- ent approach with at-risk youth. “I realized that focusing on negative influences, like telling kids not to do drugs or join gangs, was like telling a kid on a tightrope not to look down,” he says. “With Reality Changers, we decided not to talk about any of

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