Help for Tacoma's homeless: A diploma
DEBBIE CAFAZZO; Staff writer
It would have been so easy for these teens to give up.
Stressed by family circumstances, they wound up homeless for a time, surfing between relatives’ homes, cheap hotels and shelters.
But even through all their difficulties, these graduating Lincoln High School seniors kept their eyes on the educational prize. They graduated Monday night.
“I really wanted a diploma,” Corina Wirkus said. “I wanted to be a good influence to my little sister and brother.”
“School is important,” Oscar Moreno said. “If you lose everything else, you can’t lose school. It will determine your future.”
Both students are among more than 40 kids who have experienced homelessness but who will graduate this year from Tacoma Public Schools. Their efforts to complete high school stand as a testament to their personal strengths, say educators who work with them.
But although homeless kids who make it to graduation are tough, they don’t get there alone.
“They need someone in their lives who can cheer them on, support them,” said Susan Paredes, a social worker with Tacoma Public Schools’ Tone Resource Center for homeless students. “The kids who make it are the kids who have people in their lives supporting them.”
Often, those people are part of the public education system – everyone from teachers to administrators. A federal law, the McKinney-Vento Act, determines which students are considered homeless by public schools. The law defines as homeless students who lack a permanent adequate residence, those who live in shelters or on the streets, or who stay temporarily with friends or relatives.
This year, there were 1,372 Tacoma district students identified as homeless.
They might live with or without their parents, although homeless teens often are on their own. Schools can provide transportation to keep students in their home schools, even if their families relocate.
“Students get referred to a school counselor or administrator in myriad ways,” Lincoln Assistant Principal LuAnn Kucklick said. “They might be late for school, and tell the attendance office they got evicted.”
Kucklick said she frequently calls on Paredes to help homeless students, asking for assistance with everything from personal counseling to academic support to paying for a cap and gown.
Corina Wirkus first came to the attention of her school when she couldn’t pay end-of-the-year book fines for missing texts. The books had been left in a locker when she made one of her many spur-of-the-moment family moves.
“I came to Miss Kucklick,” she said. “She helped me.”
Corina’s family problems meant she lived in hotels and a downtown shelter with her mother, and with her mother’s boyfriend. Her parents aren’t together any longer.
“I don’t want to seem like I’m bashing my parents,” Corina said. “I still have respect for them.”
But they haven’t been able to provide her the kind of stable home she craves. She currently lives with an older sister.
“It’s been really stressful not having a stable place,” she said, noting that she dropped out of school for a while before returning to earn her diploma. “All I really wanted was a constant.”
She found what she was looking for at school. She recently got a job at Home Depot and is looking forward to studying nursing at Tacoma Community College.
Classmate Oscar Moreno is interested in the same career path. He wants to study nursing at the University of Washington Tacoma.
His problems at home began last year, after he came out as gay to his family. While his friends and some of his relatives understood, Oscar said, his mother did not.
She is from Mexico, he explained, and her traditional ideas would not allow her to accept his sexual orientation.
“I didn’t get along with my mom,” he said. “It was hard to live there. There was a lot of arguing.”
In January, Oscar moved in with his uncle, which helped ease some of the tension he felt at home and helped him excel in school.
Ashlee Watson, another new Lincoln graduate, lives with family friends after surviving a traumatic childhood that included sexual abuse. During her sophomore year, she moved from her mother’s home in California to her father’s home in Tacoma in an effort to leave bad memories behind. It didn’t work out.
“I have been taking care of myself since then,” she said. “I have more wisdom than the average 18-year-old. I have learned to be more responsible.”
Moving back to California would have caused her to lose school credits, she said. So she set her goal of graduating from Lincoln and pursuing a college degree in psychology. She wants to be a youth counselor.
She credits her faith in God and her personality for getting her through a difficult youth.
“I’m a strong believer in Christ,” she said. “I feel like he really brought me through. I’m also very stubborn. I can’t let anyone get the satisfaction of keeping me down.”
Phackdey Sok has been living with his grandmother and 13 relatives since January, when his family became homeless. Sometimes the Lincoln senior had to crawl into a closet just to be able to get away from the chaos and catch some sleep.
“I always tried to be a good student,” he said. “I came to school every day. Where else was I supposed to go? School is like an extra home for me. School is a place to go to make something of myself.”
While he might have lost his home, Phackdey has found his passion in art. He still remembers the first drawing he ever did, of the cartoon character Tommy from the TV show “Rugrats.” After that, he couldn’t stop drawing.
By the time he got to high school, he was volunteering at the Tacoma Art Museum and plunging himself into painting.
His Lincoln art teacher, Heather Conklin, was the first person he told about losing his home.
He said her support, along with help from college adviser Robert Jones, from the College Success Foundation, helped him cross the graduation finish line. He wants to attend Western Washington University and major in art.
“I want to have other people wear my artwork on their shirt,” he said.
Debbie Cafazzo: 253-597-8635
debbie.cafazzo@thenewstribune.com
