YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio — Guy “Tron” Banks is making the most out of his journey ahead as he pursues new opportunities.
What You Need To Know
- Banks serves as a manager at the Antioch College Wellness Center and does personal training
- Programs and courses taken in prison helped Banks make the transition to life after his release
- He started an All In Youth event focused on fitness and nutrition
These days, he spends much of his time at the Wellness Center at Antioch College, where he works as manager. He was hired in 2022 after doing some contract work there.
While he picked up personal training as a part of his job duties, he didn’t realize he’d be helping guests using some of the skills he learned in prison, where he dug into theater and communication classes and produced his own TED Talks, among other things.
“We start off thinking about what we can’t do. That’s the hindrance in itself that is going to prevent us from even trying something. So what I do with our clients is see what we can do first, and that’s knock out that fear,” Banks said.
Banks works with people in their 20s all the way up through their 80s. Being able to train people, he said, “always starts off, especially when you’re new, it’s scary. You’re dealing with lives.”
In addition to knocking out fear, Banks said walking through African American studies and learning about mass incarceration through university partnerships also helped him and opened his eyes to things he didn’t understand when it came to injustices. He said had he been educated before he got to prison about mass incarceration, it “would’ve prevented me from going to prison, just because I would have looked at the prison system as a complete opposition.”
Even so, learning and broadening his educational lens encouraged him to make some decisions about not just being a number in the prison system, but better.
While prison was a learning hub for Banks on many levels, he’s grateful for the chance to move forward and to help people in a positive way.
Colleen Jade Carpenter, a victim in the incident Banks was involved in more than a decade ago, shared her perspective.
“I’m very much aware of mass incarceration, the disproportionate impact on Black people. I very much wanted this to be something that on his own track record if the judge found that to be you know a reason for early release, then great,” Carpenter said. “I would love for him to have a second chance and to, you know, make a life.”
Appreciative of an early release, Banks takes his life lessons and helps kids as well with his All In Fitness Youth event. Focusing on fitness and nutrition, he aims to not only get kids on the right track physically, but to motivate them.
