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More from ChrisRaccoon02
Thank you so much to 
OfficialPeachBumz for taking some pictures of me in fursuit dressed in my cap and gown around campus!
Suit made by
Darkmustang1
The past two weeks have been a major in my life, as I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from the University of South Florida! I don’t like to talk too much about myself, but I wanted to take a moment to reflect on how I got here.
I grew up in a relatively low-income family, living with only my mother for most of my life (the rare times my father was around, he was drunk and abusive towards my mother and later in my life to me as well). Neither of my parents were very educated and never went on to get a college degree, so I am a first-generation graduate. Nonetheless, I started off my education being considered “advanced” or “gifted” starting in first grade. For a while things were pretty good, I was a fairly self-motivated child and performed really well. Soon afterwards though, I started becoming a victim of bullying, primarily due to the way I acted from my ADHD and mild autism (very hyperactive, with niche interests and socially awkward!). I remember being always referred to as the classroom “retard”, and “ugly”, something I played along with at the time and tried to shrug off, but instead ended up internalizing it deep within myself. Slowly, I began feeling isolated and alienated from everybody else and becoming apathetic. The bullying reached a peak in fourth grade where I had to not only face bullying from my peers, but from a teacher I had as well. This teacher would actively pick on me in front of the entire class, to purposely humiliate me and bring me down, along with encouraging my peers to bully me even more. She would call me all sorts of insults, roll her eyes at me when I talked to her, make an example out of me when I would get something wrong and so much more. That year, every single one of my peers in our twenty-something person class was promoted to become “safety patrols” (basically helping younger children around campus), and get to go on a trip to Washington D.C. in the following grade, except for me. My mother wrote an email to her asking why she singled me out, and she responded by saying that my ADHD would not make me a good safety patrol, and I would not be responsible and live up to the role. My mother then responded, defending me by explaining that if anything I should be a candidate to be able to become a safety patrol and that I could live up to it if I had the encouragement, I might have ADHD, but that just means I have to work harder, I’m no smarter or dumber than any of my peers. The teacher responded back in an incredibly rude way to my mother, basically insulting me at every chance she could and even insulting my mother. My mother went to the principal to report her for being discriminatory, unprofessional, and rude, but it did not matter, after all, she had been working at the school for 20 years. At this point, everything became even worse for me, the things she would say to me would be even worse, the humiliation would become even greater, she would always criticize me and grade my work extra harshly. As an adult, I have no idea how another adult can hate and pick on a ten year old child that much, but I suppose some people in life are just extra miserable.
Despite me doing fine on standardized testing, with that teacher being extremely harsh and downright a bully towards me, I was no longer considered an “advanced” child by 5th grade, and I was removed from the class I had been with since 1st grade, losing the few friendships I had, as I would no longer be in class with the same people I used to be with. This marked a very low point in my childhood, I would come home from school exhausted and wanting to cry nearly everyday. The damage was deep seeded within me from how I was treated. I thought I got the last laugh at the end of fourth grade by flipping off that teacher behind her back, but she did so much more to me, she alienated me even more than I already was from my peers, she humiliated me for having ADHD, she separated me from the few friendships I had by forcing me into a different class the following year, and most importantly she destroyed my self-esteem, confidence, and drive. I could not possibly care less about school at this point, and my grades suffered because of it. School to me was the closest thing to hell, where I lived in crippling isolation, embarrassment, and self-hatred for eight hours a day without much of an escape. At this point I was also being physically bullied, in front of teachers and staff who did nothing while another kid would punch and jab me in the chest, but I would not fight back because I felt like I was worthless.
The next part of my journey would be going to middle school, with 6th grade, which was surprisingly better than previous grades as I happened to meet a group of nerdy kids like myself. Even though I was happier to have friends again, I was still being verbally and physically bullied by my peers, and I still felt incredibly worthless with low self-esteem. At this point, I could not give a damn about my education, and my grades would slip to being right on the edge of failing, sometimes just straight up failing because I did not care and did not ever see myself going anywhere, I had just accepted that I was “retarded” and that my ADHD made me a flawed person. During 7th grade, I would become actively harmful to myself, by using knives, blades, scissors, etc to cut myself to escape emotional pain that I felt. I had pretty much no drive and failed a lot of courses (just managing to do well on standardized tests to be able to not be held back). I could have never seen myself being able to go to college, inside I felt too worthless and dumb to do something like that.
Not all was necessarily bad though, as during 7th grade, as a 13 year old, I discovered the furry fandom (I cannot remember exactly how other than at the time I was also in the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom which shares some overlap with the furry fandom, and I also had a crush on a boy in my grade who was a furry). The furry fandom would become the key I needed to lead me to turn myself around. I was used to being brought down all the time, but in the furry fandom, I was built up, I felt loved and cared for. The fandom was also a welcoming place for me as at the time I had also discovered that I’m queer. Not everything was suddenly better, I still had a lot of struggles and at points was suicidal, but seeing how talented many people were in the fandom gave me some of my drive back. Slowly but surely I started performing really well again, to the point where I was able to take classes for college credit starting my freshman year of high school (AP/IB/AICE Courses), and I was considered an honors student. During my freshman year of high school in particular, I met so many amazing people in the fandom, many who I am still great friends with to this day. These people are smart, insanely talented and hardworking, and downright inspirational. Having these positive influences gave me the energy to keep going and persevering. Throughout that year I also fell in love and got into a relationship for the first time, which was amazing to me as I’d been conditioned to think of myself as an entirely unlovable person. For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged somewhere. High school was quite difficult, and I spent most of my day working on assignments and studying a lot of times, but the amazing people I have met in this fandom and the inspiring things furries do kept me going. Eventually, I was approved to skip my senior year of high school and go to community college for a year instead, for free. This allowed me to graduate from high school with an Associate’s Degree. Because I had performed well in my classes during high school, I was also granted a scholarship from the state to be able to attend university with my tuition paid for. I chose to pursue an Environmental Science degree at the University of South Florida.
My first year at university was one of the hardest years of my life. Circumstances led to the breaking off of a three year relationship I was in, I lost loved ones, and I had a medical complication. This was the lowest point in my life, everyday felt horrible and for a bit I had to rely on benzodiazepines to just make it through the day without breaking down. I had the most supportive friends I could have ever asked for by my side to help me through the bad times. Eventually, a trip to California with a group of my friends from the furry fandom nearly completely allowed me to move on from the bad things that had happened.
The rest of my time at university was quite good! I found some furries on campus, and joined the first board of the new furry club on campus (USF FLOOF) as a historian. I was able to contribute to three different paid academic research projects in the ecology field which are likely to be published in the future. I was able to take part in an internship sponsored by the National Science Foundation which had me travel to a different state for 10 weeks to conduct a research project, and improve my research and laboratory skills. Throughout all of this, I had my friends from the fandom by my side to push me farther, inspire me, and give me a sense of direction. Through being a part of that internship, I made enough money to be able to buy a fursuit, something that I had dreamed of for many many years, but became a reality in December of last year when my fursuit was made by ClownCarCritters. I’m now able to put on my suit whenever I want and feel like my fursona, feel like my true self!
That brings us to today, I just got back from an incredible Furry Weekend Atlanta where I had the time of my life, and I am relaxing with my love laying down and sleeping beside me as I type. I graduated successfully with my Bachelor’s of Science degree in Environmental Science, plus a minor in Biology with a GPA of 3.68 (cum laude)! I graduated with my degree completely for free (I actually made money to live off of while going to school from federal aid, scholarships, and research work). Ten years ago I would have never been in the position where I thought I would have been able to go to college. I viewed myself as stupid, ugly, retarded, and useless, plus besides all of that, I didn't even have the money to go to college if I wanted to, my parents would never have been able to make enough to send me to college. But today, I have my degree that I got without having to pay, and while things are still tough on the self-esteem end, I feel a whole lot better than I used to feel about myself. I look forward to attending graduate school in a couple years to go for a Master’s degree, and then who knows, maybe I will even try for a PhD in the future.
Without the fandom, I would have not been able to do the things that I have accomplished. The furry fandom lifted me up as a broken teenager, and was able to show me love, inspiration, compassion, meaning, and so much more that I so strongly desired. I have friends I have met through the fandom that I wouldn’t trade for the world. I have experienced things that I would have never thought I’d be able to experience. Things are always challenging for me on the mental health front, but in the fandom, I feel genuinely loved, genuinely accepted for who I am, and am able to experience genuine happiness and joy. Thank you to all my friends, all my inspirations, my lover for helping me get to where I’m able to dress in cap and gown and walk across the stage to get my degree. The furry fandom is somewhere I will be until the day I die, the fandom is home to me and something that can never be replaced. Thank you
- Chris Raccoon
OfficialPeachBumz for taking some pictures of me in fursuit dressed in my cap and gown around campus! Suit made by
Darkmustang1 The past two weeks have been a major in my life, as I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from the University of South Florida! I don’t like to talk too much about myself, but I wanted to take a moment to reflect on how I got here.
I grew up in a relatively low-income family, living with only my mother for most of my life (the rare times my father was around, he was drunk and abusive towards my mother and later in my life to me as well). Neither of my parents were very educated and never went on to get a college degree, so I am a first-generation graduate. Nonetheless, I started off my education being considered “advanced” or “gifted” starting in first grade. For a while things were pretty good, I was a fairly self-motivated child and performed really well. Soon afterwards though, I started becoming a victim of bullying, primarily due to the way I acted from my ADHD and mild autism (very hyperactive, with niche interests and socially awkward!). I remember being always referred to as the classroom “retard”, and “ugly”, something I played along with at the time and tried to shrug off, but instead ended up internalizing it deep within myself. Slowly, I began feeling isolated and alienated from everybody else and becoming apathetic. The bullying reached a peak in fourth grade where I had to not only face bullying from my peers, but from a teacher I had as well. This teacher would actively pick on me in front of the entire class, to purposely humiliate me and bring me down, along with encouraging my peers to bully me even more. She would call me all sorts of insults, roll her eyes at me when I talked to her, make an example out of me when I would get something wrong and so much more. That year, every single one of my peers in our twenty-something person class was promoted to become “safety patrols” (basically helping younger children around campus), and get to go on a trip to Washington D.C. in the following grade, except for me. My mother wrote an email to her asking why she singled me out, and she responded by saying that my ADHD would not make me a good safety patrol, and I would not be responsible and live up to the role. My mother then responded, defending me by explaining that if anything I should be a candidate to be able to become a safety patrol and that I could live up to it if I had the encouragement, I might have ADHD, but that just means I have to work harder, I’m no smarter or dumber than any of my peers. The teacher responded back in an incredibly rude way to my mother, basically insulting me at every chance she could and even insulting my mother. My mother went to the principal to report her for being discriminatory, unprofessional, and rude, but it did not matter, after all, she had been working at the school for 20 years. At this point, everything became even worse for me, the things she would say to me would be even worse, the humiliation would become even greater, she would always criticize me and grade my work extra harshly. As an adult, I have no idea how another adult can hate and pick on a ten year old child that much, but I suppose some people in life are just extra miserable.
Despite me doing fine on standardized testing, with that teacher being extremely harsh and downright a bully towards me, I was no longer considered an “advanced” child by 5th grade, and I was removed from the class I had been with since 1st grade, losing the few friendships I had, as I would no longer be in class with the same people I used to be with. This marked a very low point in my childhood, I would come home from school exhausted and wanting to cry nearly everyday. The damage was deep seeded within me from how I was treated. I thought I got the last laugh at the end of fourth grade by flipping off that teacher behind her back, but she did so much more to me, she alienated me even more than I already was from my peers, she humiliated me for having ADHD, she separated me from the few friendships I had by forcing me into a different class the following year, and most importantly she destroyed my self-esteem, confidence, and drive. I could not possibly care less about school at this point, and my grades suffered because of it. School to me was the closest thing to hell, where I lived in crippling isolation, embarrassment, and self-hatred for eight hours a day without much of an escape. At this point I was also being physically bullied, in front of teachers and staff who did nothing while another kid would punch and jab me in the chest, but I would not fight back because I felt like I was worthless.
The next part of my journey would be going to middle school, with 6th grade, which was surprisingly better than previous grades as I happened to meet a group of nerdy kids like myself. Even though I was happier to have friends again, I was still being verbally and physically bullied by my peers, and I still felt incredibly worthless with low self-esteem. At this point, I could not give a damn about my education, and my grades would slip to being right on the edge of failing, sometimes just straight up failing because I did not care and did not ever see myself going anywhere, I had just accepted that I was “retarded” and that my ADHD made me a flawed person. During 7th grade, I would become actively harmful to myself, by using knives, blades, scissors, etc to cut myself to escape emotional pain that I felt. I had pretty much no drive and failed a lot of courses (just managing to do well on standardized tests to be able to not be held back). I could have never seen myself being able to go to college, inside I felt too worthless and dumb to do something like that.
Not all was necessarily bad though, as during 7th grade, as a 13 year old, I discovered the furry fandom (I cannot remember exactly how other than at the time I was also in the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom which shares some overlap with the furry fandom, and I also had a crush on a boy in my grade who was a furry). The furry fandom would become the key I needed to lead me to turn myself around. I was used to being brought down all the time, but in the furry fandom, I was built up, I felt loved and cared for. The fandom was also a welcoming place for me as at the time I had also discovered that I’m queer. Not everything was suddenly better, I still had a lot of struggles and at points was suicidal, but seeing how talented many people were in the fandom gave me some of my drive back. Slowly but surely I started performing really well again, to the point where I was able to take classes for college credit starting my freshman year of high school (AP/IB/AICE Courses), and I was considered an honors student. During my freshman year of high school in particular, I met so many amazing people in the fandom, many who I am still great friends with to this day. These people are smart, insanely talented and hardworking, and downright inspirational. Having these positive influences gave me the energy to keep going and persevering. Throughout that year I also fell in love and got into a relationship for the first time, which was amazing to me as I’d been conditioned to think of myself as an entirely unlovable person. For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged somewhere. High school was quite difficult, and I spent most of my day working on assignments and studying a lot of times, but the amazing people I have met in this fandom and the inspiring things furries do kept me going. Eventually, I was approved to skip my senior year of high school and go to community college for a year instead, for free. This allowed me to graduate from high school with an Associate’s Degree. Because I had performed well in my classes during high school, I was also granted a scholarship from the state to be able to attend university with my tuition paid for. I chose to pursue an Environmental Science degree at the University of South Florida.
My first year at university was one of the hardest years of my life. Circumstances led to the breaking off of a three year relationship I was in, I lost loved ones, and I had a medical complication. This was the lowest point in my life, everyday felt horrible and for a bit I had to rely on benzodiazepines to just make it through the day without breaking down. I had the most supportive friends I could have ever asked for by my side to help me through the bad times. Eventually, a trip to California with a group of my friends from the furry fandom nearly completely allowed me to move on from the bad things that had happened.
The rest of my time at university was quite good! I found some furries on campus, and joined the first board of the new furry club on campus (USF FLOOF) as a historian. I was able to contribute to three different paid academic research projects in the ecology field which are likely to be published in the future. I was able to take part in an internship sponsored by the National Science Foundation which had me travel to a different state for 10 weeks to conduct a research project, and improve my research and laboratory skills. Throughout all of this, I had my friends from the fandom by my side to push me farther, inspire me, and give me a sense of direction. Through being a part of that internship, I made enough money to be able to buy a fursuit, something that I had dreamed of for many many years, but became a reality in December of last year when my fursuit was made by ClownCarCritters. I’m now able to put on my suit whenever I want and feel like my fursona, feel like my true self!
That brings us to today, I just got back from an incredible Furry Weekend Atlanta where I had the time of my life, and I am relaxing with my love laying down and sleeping beside me as I type. I graduated successfully with my Bachelor’s of Science degree in Environmental Science, plus a minor in Biology with a GPA of 3.68 (cum laude)! I graduated with my degree completely for free (I actually made money to live off of while going to school from federal aid, scholarships, and research work). Ten years ago I would have never been in the position where I thought I would have been able to go to college. I viewed myself as stupid, ugly, retarded, and useless, plus besides all of that, I didn't even have the money to go to college if I wanted to, my parents would never have been able to make enough to send me to college. But today, I have my degree that I got without having to pay, and while things are still tough on the self-esteem end, I feel a whole lot better than I used to feel about myself. I look forward to attending graduate school in a couple years to go for a Master’s degree, and then who knows, maybe I will even try for a PhD in the future.
Without the fandom, I would have not been able to do the things that I have accomplished. The furry fandom lifted me up as a broken teenager, and was able to show me love, inspiration, compassion, meaning, and so much more that I so strongly desired. I have friends I have met through the fandom that I wouldn’t trade for the world. I have experienced things that I would have never thought I’d be able to experience. Things are always challenging for me on the mental health front, but in the fandom, I feel genuinely loved, genuinely accepted for who I am, and am able to experience genuine happiness and joy. Thank you to all my friends, all my inspirations, my lover for helping me get to where I’m able to dress in cap and gown and walk across the stage to get my degree. The furry fandom is somewhere I will be until the day I die, the fandom is home to me and something that can never be replaced. Thank you
- Chris Raccoon
Category Fursuiting / All
Species Raccoon
Size 2351 x 1567px
File Size 546.8 kB
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