Raphael Armenti: A 2021 JAHMA Scholar

Raphael Armenti calls himself a troublemaker kid. 

“I was a little bit of a troublemaker kid, and I was living on the Lower East Side of New York in what’s known as Ukrainian village in the 1980s,” Armenti said. 

On average there are 15,000 Airborne Paratroopers on active duty with the U.S. Army. Armenti was one of those 15,000 paratroopers until 1996.

“After a series of bad decisions and judgment [as a kid], I figured the best thing to do would be to join the military. So, I joined. I joined the Airborne... I was able to go to Panama and babysit the Panama Canal... I got out in 1996,” he said.

After he got out of the military, the statement “old habits die hard” proved true for Armenti. 

“So, from there, it’s almost like my bad judgment relentlessly came back,” he said.

From Paratrooper to Chef

Armenti admits he was impulsive in his youth, just living for himself. Years later he found out there was a medical reason for how he acted. But at the time he didn’t know.

After he left the military, he got a job as a professional cook in New York City. He worked his way up to the chef title at a French Bistro. 

“I typically worked in either very well-known bistros or two- and three-star restaurants,” he said. “And there was nothing like it. I loved it because the gratification, the recognition, the motivation was all immediate.”

He was in the French bistro business from 1996 to about 2010. What happened after that? Armenti says more bad decisions left him homeless for a while. 

An Introduction to Section 8 Housing

Within a few years of becoming homeless he found Section 8 Housing and has been at a property for Veterans. It was there that he was encouraged to go to college. 

In 2014 he started as a freshman at Essex County Community College, and he did great. It was around that time he learned his diagnosis—moderate depression and bipolar disorder. Armenti said knowing his diagnosis finally gave him some relief. He realized why he had made the string of bad choices.

“Because if you don’t know [your diagnosis], you’re not aware of it, you don’t know that it’s wrong,” he said. “You just think the world is a very frightening, strange, odd place where you definitely do not belong.”

It was knowing his diagnosis that helped him understand himself.

“If you actually stop being afraid, if you actually look at yourself without judgment, you can start to realize where you went wrong, why you went wrong, and how to fix it,” Armenti said. So here I am, six years later. I think it was Socrates who said,’ the one thing I know for sure is that I know nothing’, and I’m really okay with that.”

Armenti is now 56 years old and excelled at Essex County. So great, in fact, he outgrew Essex County and eventually transferred to Rutgers University. 

Building Confidence

Armenti is in his final semester as an English and philosophy major. He has been on the Dean’s List three times and is carrying a 3.7 GPA. 

Imagine shaking and trembling when faced with an uncomfortable situation. That has been Armenti’s story. He hasn’t seen himself as worthy of the good things in life but slowly that is changing thanks to Section 8 housing staff encouraging him and receiving the JAHMA Foundation Scholarship.

“I am convinced I am always the dumbest person in the room,” he said. “So, when I received not one but two JAHMA Foundation scholarships, it was a little bit of an affirmation. People are recognized if they do well. And that took me a long time to realize.”

In addition to giving him an immensely need confidence boost, the JAHMA Foundation Scholarship gave Armenti some peace of mind.

“I mean, it gave just enough per semester where the lights would stay on. The computer stays on,” he said. “And it relaxed me to a point where I was sort of like, okay, this can actually happen.”

Dreams vs. Reality

With one semester left, what’s next for an English/philosophy major? Armenti is acutely aware of the limitations of his chosen major. But he has determination in spades.

People have told him he’s too old to start a career. They’ve asked him why he doesn’t just go back to cooking. After years of being on his feet as a paratrooper and a professional chef, his knees are tired. He’s ready for a desk job and he has big dreams. 

“I have actually started to outline what is probably going to be a major project as far as writing a book goes,” he said. 

He joked that he would love to be an icon at 75, win a Pulitzer Prize and kick his feet up as he soaks in the acre of land he earned enough to purchase. 

But the reality is that writing is a tough business to crack. His backup plan is working with animals. He would be just as content working at an animal sanctuary he says as we would be doing freelance writing. 

“Those are kind of the two choices for my future right now,” Armenti said. “Either ultimately a remote job where I can write and think and, you know, create a dialogue or whatever, or leave all human beings behind and surround myself with animals who need more love.”

The ultimate goal is to get out of Section 8 housing, but Armenti is OK with being there a little while longer.

“I do want to be able to progress and move forward. But I’m already here,” he said. “If I needed this to be to be the last stop on the train, not that I want it to be, but it’s also not the end of the world.”