Last night the graduation for St. Petersburg’s MYcroSchool, which happened in the Palladium’s Hough Hall, was featured as the closing story on ABC Nightly News.
You can see the piece by clicking on this link.
You can read more details about this touching story in this report from the MYcroSchool:
Boy who lived most of his life without a family graduates high
school against all odds
Davion, a life-long foster child who made news by asking for a family in church, gains an unexpected family in a unique school
St. Petersburg, FL ( May 8, 2018 ) – Five years ago, the likelihood of Davion Only-Going graduating high school was low. He had lived in the foster care system his entire life and never had a forever family to support him through the normal challenges of school. In 2013, when Davion was only 14 years old, he did the most extraordinary and heartbreaking thing a child in his situation could do. With the support of his case worker, he stood up at the podium in church and begged the audience for a family. The plea was recorded and then went viral. His story swept the web and then TV. He even appeared on “The View” to tell his story to increase the odds of finding a family.
Davion
Thousands of requests came into the agency overseeing his adoption and a minister in Ohio asked him to come live with him. But that did not work out either and he was sent back to Florida and into foster care once again. Now at 16, Davion understood that the likelihood of being adopted was low and so did the case worker that had been by his side since he was 7. Davion then took another brave step and asked his case worker, Connie Going, to adopt him. But Connie was a single mom with 3 kids who didn’t know if she would be enough for him. Without hesitation the family decided that Davion would have the family that he had begged for. And in April of 2015, the adoption was final.
But, years of shifting homes and schools and very little familial support left Davion way behind in school. He struggled until Connie discovered MYcroSchool Pinellas Charter High School. MYcroSchool charter high schools are nonprofit, tuition-free high schools in Florida. They offer flexible schedules so students can work at their own pace and learn the skills needed to finish high school. They have small class sizes that allow teachers to focus on students like Davion who need help the most. This individual attention ensures students ages 16- 21 are not left behind and obtain skills to be ready for the future. Graduates go on to enroll in college, start a career, and/or join the military.
Without the support that Connie and Davion received, it is hard to image how he would have been able to accomplish this unlikely goal. With a diploma in hand and the support of his forever family, Davion is now planning to attend Saint Petersburg College in Fall 2018 and eventually a college specializing in the Culinary Arts.
Davion and more than 50 at-risk youth graduated on May 7 at the Palladium Theater.
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