ICC Student Overcomes Life Adversity, Hopes to Help Others and Family

With this story, Harbinger Student Media begins a series of profiles of extraordinary students on campus. Know someone we should feature? Email us at iccharbinger@gmail.com.

Four days a week, Illinois Central College student Joshua Van Dyke commutes to his software development classes carrying his textbooks – and lingering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Diagnosed with PTSD by a military psychiatrist, Van Dyke was unable to give details or specifics about the incidents that caused it. He did acknowledge, though, that while both the Boy Scouts of America and the Navy were institutions that he loved, both also contributed to the challenges for his mental health.

He says that’s left him with conflicted feelings about both institutions. He says that he is proud to be both an Eagle Scout and former sailor, but both experiences led to his regular nightmares. These occur now only a couple of times per month, he says. “I try to think of the good times in both. One thing can’t ruin your whole experience,” he says, adding that he counts his Eagle Scout induction ceremony as the “best” day of his life.

Van Dyke says he advises others with PTSD to remember that they are “not alone” and that there is always “somebody to reach out to or call”. He related that he was recently with a friend who experienced a panic attack. Van Dyke says that he immediately began asking her to name five things around her. He stated that he used the same grounding technique himself on many different occasions.

Van Dyke says he also struggled with his home life. He says a relative hit him with various objects the entire time he was growing up and that he didn’t get the support he needed when he tried to discuss it with close relatives. Van Dyke stated that forgiving this relative was the “hardest thing” he ever had to do.

Van Dyke says he is willing to listen to others and to share many of his experiences. He is currently serving as vice-president of the ICC Creative Writing Club. The president of the Creative Writing Club, Haydenn Terrel, described Van Dyke as “very happy and open to helping people.”

Besides writing and providing acceptance to others, Van Dyke says that he is currently studying software development at ICC. Initially desiring to be a chef, Van Dyke says he switched to studies that are being fully funded by his military service.

Like many military recruits, Van Dyke says that he partly joined the service to leave a childhood filled with childhood trauma and aloneness. Van Dyke said that he has spent much time in counseling and stated that he believes it has helped a lot. Van Dyke says that he now strives for self-reflection and future positivity.

As an adult, Van Dyke says his struggles continued. His marriage ended in divorce, and he says he became a borderline alcoholic and consumed a six pack of beer nightly. However, Van Dyke says he is a better father for his children, refusing to yell or spank his children. And regarding alcohol, he says he had a “realization” from thoughts about alcoholic relatives and cut way back to perhaps once per month for alcohol. Van Dyke says that he believes that “life is what you make it”. He offered that “the hardest part has been improving my self-worth as an adult.”

Van Dyke says he was in the Navy for five years, being honorably discharged in 2013, but that he would re-enlist if they let him keep his “gut, and beard”. His tattoos and beard hide any evidence of being a Navy serviceman. His aversion to speaking of war is more telling. He states that he “just wants everyone to get along”. In fact, he says that his favorite movie is “Joe Dirt” because the main character has the motto, “Life is a garden; Dig it”.

Van Dyke says that he continues to cultivate his life by growing and exploring new interests. Illinois Central College, new friends, and the Navy are helping. As a nontraditional student, Van Dyke says that he has learned to “roll with it”. When asked what superhero he would be, Van Dyke stated he would be Deadpool because Deadpool regenerates, “gets back up and tries again”.

Most motivating of all, Van Dyke says, is how he wants his children to view him. Van Dyke says that he wants his children to see him as “strong, willing to show emotion”. He says that he wants them to know if is “ok to feel feelings” and that it is ok to not always know what to do in life.”