Still, the private campus was a massive culture shock—a rattling shift from what he was used to. “I was going to school with gang bangers my whole, entire life,” DeMar says, with a sigh. “All of a sudden, now I’m going to school with kids talking about borrowing their mom or dad’s Mercedes Benz. The correlations of both worlds just didn’t hit off.” He felt alone. “There was nothing I could talk to them about and vice versa. I always felt misunderstood, judged or looked at different. It was intimidating.”