Detroit — Every day of the school year, DaVonta Hence mopped, swept and wiped up the messes of Detroit high school students, emptying their trash bins and making sure they had enough paper towels.
It was work he was proud of. And he’s still proud to do it — but now he’s doing it a little taller, a little more confident, a little more joyful.
All because one person inside that school made sure he knew he could do more.
Earlier this year, Hence, a 33-year-old father of five, earned his high school diploma. The Detroit school district said its adult education program has helped more than 600 adult learners earn their high school diploma or high school equivalency credential in the past decade.
“A relief” is how Hence described the feeling when he finished.
“Like, you don’t know how long I wanted that, and to actually achieve that, it was a great thing,” he said.
Hence, who was honored at the Detroit Public Schools Community District’s July board meeting for earning his diploma, dropped out of Oak Park High School after the 10th grade.
What happened? Life happened, he said. Neither of his parents had high school diplomas, but they stressed the importance of earning his.
“Education, knowledge, that’s the key, that’s the power, that’s going to make your life very much easier,” Hence remembered his parents telling him.
Why he dropped out of high school
In school, he said, he was one of the “laid-back, more quiet kids.”
“You know, I was out of the way. I was focused really on work, my work and my education,” Hence said. “That’s what I really focused on. Kind of throwing a lot of the other noise out.”
But he didn’t make it to his junior year.
“I was trying to complete it, but things happened, you know, and they just — I wasn’t able to complete it,” he said.
Hence worked several custodial jobs, including for hospitals, casinos and schools. He became a father and prides himself on how hard he worked to overcome his lack of a high school diploma.
“I didn’t let that define me, you know?” Hence said. “I still made it to what I am today. I still provided for my children. I’m still being the great man that I am today. I’m still pushing, no matter what.”
A teacher motivates Hence to get his diploma
And yet, every time the lanky, smiley custodian stuck his head into a certain classroom inside the former Northern High School — which now holds the district’s adult education program and the Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men — Debra Smith-Dawson would pepper him with questions.
“One of the main things when you enter my room is you have to interact,” said Smith-Dawson, an English as a Second Language teacher in the adult education program. “You just can’t come in and do something. You have to interact.”
Hence was receptive to the conversation.
“He took the time out for that. He did it with a smile, which is why our conversation started,” Smith-Dawson said. “Why are you doing this? What are you going to do next?”
He explained he wanted to be an entrepreneur, possibly run his own flooring company one day.
“I saw the drive that he had, that he was consistent,” Smith-Dawson said. “He did everything with a smile, trying to be pleasant. So that was very encouraging.”
She provided him with the information about the adult education program.
“I said, ‘Call right now. Let’s do it right now.’ And so he did it,” Smith-Dawson said. “So I was very impressed with that.”
The adult education program allows students who have fewer than six credits remaining to go back to school online, with in-person support as needed, and earn a full diploma instead of a high school equivalency degree.
Hence had three credits left. The program is self-paced, so he was able to do it on his own time, as quickly or slowly as he wanted.
“Every time I got off work — class,” Hence said. “Every time I got off work — class, class, class.”
Hence perseveres despite an unexpected challenge
He had tried to go back to school before, he said, but work and responsibilities got in the way. He was determined not to let that happen again — even when life threw his biggest curveball yet.
When he was just weeks from the finish line, Hence’s father, Louis Hence, passed away suddenly from an asthma attack in April. He was 52 years old.
Hence was devastated and took a week off from classes.
Then his friend made a phone call.
“I reminded him that it would be the right thing for him to do to stay focused,” Smith-Dawson said.
Dikea Riley, deputy director of adult education for Detroit’s school system, said it’s extremely common for life circumstances to get in the way of students returning to school or completing a degree once they start again. An event like a death, she said, can be one of the hardest to push through when trying to earn a degree.
“We encourage them to take the time off that they need to process, to deal, to heal,” Riley said. “And we let them know that we are here for them, however long it takes. And so when they’re ready, they come back to us and say, ‘Hey, I want to continue.'”
Hence returned to his studies and, within weeks, was finished. He earned the last three credits in two months and graduated with a full diploma. He even attended the adult education program’s prom dance.
Tears stream down his face as he talks about his father.
“It’s also like tears of joy because, like I said, he is proud of me, you know, like I know he would like to say he wants me to keep going,” Hence said. “I’m happy for myself that I was able to complete that. You know, like I said, it was a big day for me.”
It’s also a big deal as a dad himself, Hence said.
His older kids are in school and sometimes question why they need to be there. He doesn’t want them to ever think that because he dropped out of school, it would be OK for them to do so as well.
“They think that it doesn’t matter, maybe, because they’re kids, but it does,” Hence said. “Like I said, knowledge is power, knowledge is the key.”
The diploma now sits at his mother’s house, a gift to her, and also for safekeeping. That doesn’t stop his kids from asking to see it. He’s happy to show it off.
“To this day,” he said. “To this day, they’re like, ‘Hey, let me see your diploma!'”
jpignolet@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit school janitor earns high school diploma despite tragedy
Reporting by Jennifer Pignolet, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jennifer Pignolet, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
