Columnist Sandy Thompson: Teen who overcame odds gets special gift

Sandy Thompson

Friday, Dec. 21, 2001 | 4:11 a.m.

You have to believe that if you do the right things, you will reap the rewards no matter how lowly your start in life.

Stephen Hughes believed. He believed in himself. He believed in God. But what happened to him was more than he could have hoped for.

Stephen is the 18-year-old graduate of Eldorado High School who was profiled here in June. He's the one whose family moved 85 times in his young life. His parents, because of alcohol and gambling problems, couldn't hold jobs. His mother often gambled away the rent money, making them homeless on numerous occasions. During those times, Stephen slept in the back of the family's pickup truck in the desert or in parking lots. Sometimes his father drove him to school at 2:30 a.m. where he hid in the baseball field dugout until classes started. He washed up in the school bathrooms.

Because of the family's dire circumstances, Stephen and his three brothers were placed in Child Haven for several months. The boys were returned to their parents, but their family life did not improve. To make matters worse, Stephen's father sometimes beat him.

Four teachers learned about Stephen's plight and became his "angels." They packed him lunches, helped him find part-time jobs and bought him clothes. Instead of turning to drugs and crime as his three brothers did, Stephen studied hard and became involved in school activities. He had a 4.0 grade-point average, was president of the honor society and involved in the DECA business club. He graduated from Eldorado with high honors. His parents never attended any of Stephen's awards programs or other school activities.

Stephen must have had an errant good gene that propelled him forward. With the help of his teachers, he was accepted at the University of Oregon, where he's a freshman studying marine biology. The young man who had always lived out of backpacks, boxes and bedrolls now has a sense of permanency for the first time in his life.

How does he feel? "The hardest emotion I've had to deal with is guilt," Stephen said. He feels guilty because he has a place to live and his parents are homeless again. He feels guilty because his brothers, who he says he loves with all his heart and soul, did not follow the good example he tried so hard to set for them. They have dropped out of school and have been in and out of juvenile detention facilities for various crimes.

Last June's column about Stephen's life elicited many responses from readers who wanted to help him financially. A small fund was set up to pay some of his minor expenses. The column also caught the attention of the Rosie O'Donnell show. A staff member called to ask how she could get in touch with Stephen and his teachers. She said she had read the column on the Internet and could not get Stephen out of her mind.

Last month Stephen appeared on O'Donnell's show, where she introduced him to a national television audience as a "superkid." A film clip showed places in the Las Vegas desert where he once lived and featured Stephen and one of his teachers talking about the adversities he faced and how he was faring at the University of Oregon.

Rosie then presented Stephen with a box of marshmallow Fruit Loops, which was being distributed to each member of the audience. But Stephen's box was different, Rosie said, because the cereal maker, Kellogg's, was paying his tuition for four years. Rosie also gave Stephen a $500 clothing gift certificate from the Gap.

The low-key, soft-spoken teen just looked at Rosie for a moment as if he didn't believe it.

Having completed his first semester in college (he thinks he aced his math class), Stephen is spending the holidays with the family of a friend. It's the first time he has felt comfortable about making friends.

Stephen's story is a tribute to the special teachers who took him under their wing and believed in him. It also is a tribute to an indomitable spirit and an innate determination to overcome overwhelming adversities.

He is an inspiration to us all.