{"id":255,"date":"2015-05-19T11:37:26","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T11:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/homeless-in-high-school\/?p=255"},"modified":"2015-06-09T03:23:41","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T03:23:41","slug":"this-homeless-student-is-heading-to-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/homeless-in-high-school\/2015\/05\/19\/this-homeless-student-is-heading-to-college\/","title":{"rendered":"This Homeless Student Is Heading To College"},"content":{"rendered":"

Desmond Davis is one of those 18-year-olds that schools like to brag about: He’s a runner, wrestler and drum major. He\u2019s graduating from North Dallas High School in June and he\u2019s heading to college in the fall. Desmond just happens to be homeless.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Desmond

Desmond Davis, center, attends an Action Team meeting at North Dallas High School. Action Team is a volunteer group that helps students provide community service. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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Through much of elementary school, home life was tense for Desmond Davis. Playing baritone horn in the school band turned out to be a safe place. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time I was playing to, I guess, escape what was going on when I was at home,\u201d he says. \u201cSchool was like another home.” <\/strong><\/p>\n

Especially the band room. <\/strong><\/p>\n

“That was a place where I know I can express myself truly and fully,” he says. “And when I got into band, I felt like that\u2019s another family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Desmond

Desmond Davis, 18, admires his baritone, the instrument he plays in North Dallas High School’s band. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

Family matters to Dez. So does survival.<\/p>\n

His mom and dad divorced by the time he got to middle school. Before that, he lived in South Oak Cliff. Life was scary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the area I grew up in, where I stayed with my mom, most of those kids don\u2019t even make it out of high school,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I said to myself: \u2018I can\u2019t be like all these other kids that\u2019s around my neighborhood.\u2019 For the most part, I just don\u2019t want to be a statistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his parents split, Dez says dad got custody based on his mother\u2019s neglect. With his father, he moved out of Oak Cliff. But dad\u2019s a long-distance truck driver, gone for weeks at a time.<\/p>\n

Dez had to find other places to live.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo for the past six years, I was moving from place to place to place,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been to a total of 12 houses during that time period.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dallas Independent School District classifies Dez as homeless. He never spent a night on the streets, but came close. He\u2019s among the 70 percent of homeless kids in Texas known as sofa surfers, staying with relatives, cousins or friends.<\/p>\n

For the most part, I just don\u2019t want to be a statistic.
Desmond Davis, who's graduating from North Dallas High School<\/div>
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\"Desmond

Desmond Davis works with fellow music students at North Dallas High School. The band room is \u201ca place where I know I can express myself truly and fully,\u201d he says. Photo\/Ginny Martin<\/p><\/div>\n

Band Is In His Blood<\/h3>\n

By high school, Dez was back in South Oak Cliff living with his grandmother, who has diabetes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt used to be nerve-wracking,\u201d he says. \u201cI had to wake up at 3 or 4 o\u2019clock in the morning to help her out with medicine and stuff and then I had to get ready for school. Plus, the sports and stuff, and then got to go home, do homework and do chores.\u201d<\/p>\n

One afternoon, near his grandmother\u2019s place, he got robbed at gunpoint.<\/p>\n

But life was changing.<\/p>\n

When Dez was a freshman, he had a new band director, Jesse Warmanen.<\/p>\n

\"Desmond

Desmond Davis plays in the band at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Ginny Martin<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cDesmond is absolutely a hard worker for me,\u201d Warmanen says. \u201cHe has, every day he\u2019s been in the program, worked to improve himself, and improve the kids around him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warmanen gave Dez leadership responsibilities because he recognized band was in his blood — and the band needed help. This senior year, as drum major, he\u2019s led the marching band.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe shows up before school, after school,\u201d Warmanen says. \u201cHe\u2019s here before I get to school in the morning, waiting to get into the band hall to just work with kids, write music for himself. And anything he can do just to help out.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Dallas High opened more than 90 years ago. Famous graduates include Looney Tunes<\/em> cartoonist Tex Avery and Federal Judge Barefoot Sanders. Once at the northern edge of town, the red brick school is now nestled in a decidedly mixed neighborhood. Public housing and shelters sit near upscale shops and new apartments. Most kids at North Dallas High are minorities.<\/p>\n

Ten percent are homeless.<\/p>\n

This is where a man named CJ, or Charles Johnson, entered Dez\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

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\"Charles

Charles ‘CJ’ Johnson, left, and Desmond Davis, a student who is currently living with him, talk to other Action Team volunteers during an Action Team meeting at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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\u2018Everybody deserves family\u2019<\/h3>\n

\u201cI think every kid deserves a family,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI think everybody deserves family, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson was the school\u2019s hall monitor and wrestling coach when Dez was a freshman. A Bulldog himself, CJ has spent the last decade and a half putting kids up at his house until their home life improved.<\/p>\n

\"Charles

Charles ‘CJ’ Johnson during an Action Team meeting at North Dallas High School. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t have it where they came from, they have it with me,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cOr they have it with my family or the people I make my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dez met Johnson through the school\u2019s Action Team, a volunteer group that provides students with chances to earn community service hours.<\/p>\n

Johnson, who no longer works at North Dallas High and is now working security at Baylor Medical Center, extended an offer. Need a place to hang out for a few hours? On the weekend? Need a place to sleep?<\/p>\n

Dez\u2019s initial suspicions were unfounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started as being one day, and a day turned into weeks, and those turned into months,\u201d Dez said. \u201cAnd I just went ahead and said: \u2018Well, Granny, I\u2019m going to be staying over here now.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Charles

Charles ‘CJ’ Johnson instructs Desmond Davis on how to prune a rose bush at his home. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2018We created our own family\u2019<\/h3>\n

Johnson\u2019s South Oak Cliff home has become a refuge for troubled and homeless high school kids. Jerimi Gonzales, visiting a few months ago, is one of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like we created our own family,\u201d Gonzales said. \u201cSo CJ brought us in. That\u2019s my father. He\u2019s the head of the tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"North

North Dallas High School student Desmond Davis tries on a hat while looking for a tux for his upcoming prom at Al’s Formal Wear in Dallas. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

Gonzales, now 27 with a young son, was one of the first boys Johnson helped 11 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings Desmond in, so that\u2019s my little brother,\u201d Gonzales said. \u201cIf he ever needs me, I\u2019ll take care of him. Everyone can relate to each other, kind of not having no one, and wanting to be loved, like all human beings want to be loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dez has been learning that lesson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always somebody in a worse position than you,\u201d he said. \u201cSo you have to be grateful for whatever you get. And if you don\u2019t get anything, you still just be grateful you\u2019re alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

There’s another thing Dez is grateful for — Oklahoma State University.<\/p>\n

He wants to study computer graphics, design video games, and join the Cowboy band.<\/p>\n

What hooked him? A visit to Stillwater, where he saw everyone wearing neon OSU orange.<\/p>\n

They were a family.<\/p>\n

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Video: ‘I Was Moving From Place To Place To Place’<\/h3>\n