For many students graduating from high school is a milestone. But earning a high school diploma is harder for some than others, and it’s even more difficult when you’re going to school while homeless.
That's the reality though for Joseph Lopez and Christopher Elias, two members of the 2013 graduating class of Rickards High School. They both plan to go on to college, but Elias says, it hasn't been easy.
“At 16 I had to move out of my mom’s house because she got in trouble with the law. I had to move out of my grandmother’s house because she talked crap about my mom, and I couldn't handle it," he said. "I had to go to a shelter, with other people, grown people. I’m 16 these people are like 50, 40 years old, and I’m a kid.....it kept on going, off and on.”
Chris ended up in a foster home, but left because the family stole money from him. He found an apartment, but had to leave because he couldn’t pay rent. At one time, he, his mother, and brother were all homeless, and back to living in a shelter. But things are better now.
“We’ve moved into our own apartment... I don’t have my own room yet, but I’m leaving for college, so I’ll be just fine until August. So that’s kinda good.”
Chris has a football scholarship and he’s looking forward to going to college and majoring in psychology. There’s just one thing he worries about: two felonies on his record from when he was 13 and 15, that could dim his college football dreams.
“ I can never get them off my record. They’re felonies. That hurt. After I got out the courthouse, I cried. I cried bad. Because I thought I lost my scholarship for the mistakes I made in elementary school and as a teenager hanging with the wrong people. I’ve changed a lot. I’m 20 now.”
Chris and fellow classmate Joseph Lopez are two of 650 Leon County students who were classified as homeless during the 2011-2012 school year. Statewide, there were more than 63,685 students in Florida public schools who were identified as homeless.
Earlier in the month, the Florida Department of Education awarded grants to several school districts, including Leon, to help homeless students. For some districts, it meant putting washers and dryers in schools for kids to do their laundry. In Leon, the money went to help graduating seniors cover prom fees, graduation fees, and purchase laptops.
“I teared up when they paid for my senior fees. I didn’t expect to have a yearbook, I didn’t expect to go to prom. I didn’t even have my senior pictures because I couldn’t afford it," said Joseph Lopez.
He’s been to three high schools from Miami to Tallahassee in two years. Joseph left home at 16 after getting into fights with his mother’s boyfriend back in Miami and he took care of himself by working at a Cuban restaurant. He lived first with his father, then his grandmother in Hileah.
“I paid for my gas, my food, my car, my school supplies, my clothes. I had to grow up pretty fast. It got to the point where I wasn’t eating property and I didn’t want to ask my family for help because they’re just kinda...fake.”
Joseph moved to Tallahassee just two months ago to finish his senior year at Rickards High and to live with his sister. He’s now heading to Tallahassee Community College.
Graduation Day
This year’s graduating class of Rickards High School Raiders is pumped as they call to one another in their caps and gowns. They’re all smiles in the tunnels of the Leon County Civic Center, waiting to march onto the floor in their blue caps and gowns.
The school band plays Pomp and Circumstance. Friends and family cheer them on the new graduates. Joseph is one of them.
But Chris is not.
The week before graduation he was suspended from school. He will still get his diploma, but his scholarship status is still unknown. Chris’ guidance counselor says they’ve made multiple emails and calls to the university, but haven’t heard anything back.
