High Quality
Open the downloaded document, and select print from the file menu (PDF reader required).
ichola
Shanks
refused
to
fail
Youth
went
from
homeless
shelter
t ~
the
top spot
in
his high school
class
By
NICOLE
NORFLEET
norjlen@phillyne,us.com
215-854-#14
I
N HlS high-school yearbook,the only photo of 18-year-oldNicholasShanks
is
a shot of his senior class
in
which
he
stares sternly
trom
the back
row.
Nicnolas
wasn't
in
social
or
academic clubs, didn't play on asports team
or
go
to a prom.
But
teachers and
students
at
Martin Luther King High Schoolwon't soon forget the face of thisyoung man, who, on his bunk in acrowded room in a homeless shelter, studied after school, drewanime, and eventually becameclass valedictorian."There were obstacles
that
Ihave had to overcome
in
my
life
so
faJ',"
he wrote
in
a college essay."However,
my
inspiration and personal strengths have helped medeal with them."
+
Nicholas, an avid artist, completed college-level courses
at
MLK High, on Stenton Avenue.He graduated with the top
GPA
in
the class of 2008 -a
3.91
-hasbeen accepted to the
Art
Institute of Philadelphia, and plans to
start
this
fall.
He still
hasn't
fig
ured out how to pay the annual tuition of
at
least $25,000 a year.
"Just
because you
are
in
a badsituation," he told the
Daily News
in
a recent interview, "doesn'tmean you can't succeed."
The
path
to
homelessness
When Nicholas
was
a child, helived with both
parents
in
a small
apartment
on Bustleton Avenuenear Gifford,
but
it was far from ahappy home.His parents were
out
of workand argued a lot, Nicholas said.They were
drug
addicts, his moth
er,
Sheila Newton, later admittedto the
Daily News.
"Nicholas was sheltered," Newton,
48,
said. "We would be
out
here doing drugs and he would be
in
his bedroom.
We
would cover
the
cracks under the
d O O l ~ "
One morning when Nicholaswas still in middle school, hewoke up to loud pounds
on
thefront door. They had been evicted, Newton said.Nicholas' father went to livewith his own mother. And Newton and Nicholas went to stay
at
her
mother's one-bedroom apart
ment
in
the Northeast.
It
didn'tlast.His
grandmother
su ffered fromemphysema and was unable towork. His mom was still jobless
and
said she also was battling
a
cocaine addiction. An uncle ofNicholas' had been helping thepay
the
bills but could not longerafford to do
so.
A month before he stal,ted highschool, Nicholas, his
mother
andhis
grandmother
were evicted
again.
"I expected
it,"
Nicholas saidsoftly. "Things
just started
fallingapart."At age
14,
Nicholas had to leavehis friends, most possessions and
set
out
for
the unknown.With what little they could car
ry,
the family took refuge
at
Mount
Airy
Stenton Family Man
or,
a homeless shelt.er
in
Germantown. They were assigned a section of the shelte,r's communalroom sharp.d by several families."It was terrible," Newton recalled. "He went through depression. I went through depression.My mom went through depres
sion.
1I
The
food
was miserable. Fightsbroke out among residents andthere was no privacy, Newtonsaid.
She
had to tell some women notto change
in
the open where everyone could see. She said theirclothes
WE're
stolen
trom
the laun
dry.
Every weekday, Nicholaswalked a block
and
a half to Martin Luther King High. Afterschool, he
returned
to the shelterand studied
in
the
communalroom.To pass time, Nicholas drew
Japanese
anime figures, visited
other
teens' bunks and played video games. Sometimes he visitedhis father.Shelter workers helped New
tongetajob.But
life
didn't
get
easier. Newton's mother suffered a stroke
JESSICA
GRIFFIN
I
OaUy
Nows
Nicholas
Shanks
(above)
with his
mother,
Sheila
Newton.
Tops
in
hisclass he's
been
accepted
at
the
Art
Institute
ofPhiladelphia.
and had to be moved to
anothershelter
to relieve stress.And
in
2005, Newton found alump
in
her
breast, was diagnosed with
breast
cancel' and hadto undergo rndiation tl'eatments.
MLK
was
his
escape
Nicholas and his
mother
stayed
at the
shelter
for
two years andeventually were moved to a privateroom.
It
was there
that
she decided tokick her
drug
habit for
her
familyand received
support
trom shel
ter
workers, Newton said.Then she and Nicholas found anew place to stay. They moved tosecured transitional housing
at
a"visitation home"· on KensingtonAvenue
near
Lehigh. Visitors
must
sign in and no male overnight guests
are
allowed.Nicholas was
in
11th
grade.
The
two-bedroom
apartmentwas
"way
better" than
the shelter, said Nicholas, a shy. soft-spoken, slender teen who is humbleabout his obvious accomplishments.
But
it still had "shelterlike conditions," he said, with
CUl'-
fews
at
midnight and inspections.Martin
Luther
King High was
an
escape for him, his teacherssaid.Nicholas was quiet and introverted, said David Mandell, 43, anMLK teacher who mentoredNicholas during his senior year.
But
ovel' time, Mandell, said,Nicholas
started
to verbalize his
CORRECTION
In
Ellen Gray's TuesdayTV column, Keith Olbermann
erred
in
saying
that
Bill
O'Reilly and Sean Hannity have anchored news
programs
on primarynights, a "Fox News"spokesperson said yester
day.
According to
Fox,
O'Reilly and Hannity haveprovided on-air analysisand commentary.
Whenwe·....
made.nerror.
wt1I
Sofy
50.
If
Wfl
nM<!
10
cIarffy:lpoint,lVo'lldothal
asmHl"you
hav
••
COfo
cemaulourCOll'ef'9.
plHHca"LOfellZoBiggsal
2lS-854·5030Of
..
nvll
ONcoITection@phl/tvnllws.
<Om
frustrations."He overcame his angerthrough his artwork," Mandellsaid. "I don't think Nick wouldhave made if it
wasn't
for his
art-
work."Nicholas wouldn't let his
life
ofhomelessness
deter
him, saidMandell, who administered hisadvanced calculus test."When I proctored
that
exam,everyone gave up
...
" he said."Nicholas was
the
only
student
in
that
room who actually persevered."Amanda Fry,
23,
Nicholas' advanced-physics teacher, said sheconsidered him one of her
best
students. His optimism, she said,amazed her."Especially in
AP
[advancedplacement] physics, a lot of thekids complained
all
the
timeabout how much work they had,"she said. "Nick never complained.
It
was
just
amazing
to
me because
in
some ways
I
thinkhe had it
harder than
a lot of the
other
kids in the classroom."
MLK
High principal Kris
Di
viny remains impressed by Nicholas' achievements."To know what he
had
to overcome, from us who knew, it was
re-
ally inspiring," she said.
Aiding
homeless
kid!;!
Homeless children
are
a "hidden population," said
Dorette
Li
gons-Ham, regional
coordinatorof the
city school
district's
Homeless Children's Initiative.About 6,000 kids
grades
K-12
were homeless
last year
out
of
the
197,000 who
attended
public
and charter
schools in
the
dis-
See
SPARKS
Page
6
PAGE 4F
PHILADELPHIA
DAILY
NEWS
THURSDAY, JULY 24,
2008
Add a Comment
jamison_421left a comment