ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An Orange County student recognized by the school district as homeless is not letting that condition stop him. He is, in fact, preparing to take his next step in chasing a dream career in the performing arts. 

  • 2016-2017 - 6,134 students identified as homeless
  • 2017-2018 - number jumps to 9,676
  • Official: "This is kind of uncharted territory for us."

Inside studio B at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 19-year-old Savohn Thomas, who is pursuing a career in the performing arts, looks into the mirror and works on reciting a poem he wrote. 

“It was like a slap in the face, like, ‘Oh my God, look at all these colors, oh my God listen to these melodies, oh my Jesus look at this costume he is trying to make me wear!’ It’s crazy but it’s so fun,” said Thomas. “ You don’t want to leave.” 

From poetry to dancing, Thomas is not afraid to branch out into different types of performing. For him, the stage is paradise.

That is because each dance step he takes reminds him of the thousands he had to take to get here on a much different road. Just a few months ago, he would walk just over 20 miles to get to school. 

“The worst thing about it was it was an everyday thing,” said Thomas. “So even, ok, I walked, I get to school, I make it. I am still tired. Guess what I got to do it the next day. And the next day, and the next day.”

 

 

"The needs are great"

Getting up at 3 am, Thomas would walk from Pine Hills, where he lived off and on, to Cypress Creek High at the Osceola-Orange County line. Thomas was one of Orange County’s thousands of homeless students.  

“It’s very concerning, because the needs are great,” said Christina Savino, OCPS Homeless & Migrant Programs Senior Administrator.

Savino tells us OCPS uses the Federal McKinney-Venro Homeless Assistance Act, which states for a child to classify as "homeless" they must lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence or, if due to a loss of housing, a child must live in a shelter, motel, vehicle, or campground, on the street, in abandoned buildings, or doubled-up with relatives or friends.

“We had a significant increase of students identified as experiencing homelessness last school year," Savino explained, "mostly attributed to hurricanes, and those that were displaced due to the various natural disasters that came through out area."

In the 2016-2017 school year Orange County schools identified 6,134 kids as homeless. The following school year the number jumped to 9,676. 

“So this is kind of uncharted territory for us,” said Savino. 

Thomas fit into an even more dire category. He was classified as an "unaccompanied homeless youth," which means along with not having a stable home, his parents were often not in the picture.

He said he often wondered if his life would always be so volatile. 

“But to school every day, and having a teacher teach me something I have never been taught, I have never known before. Where I am learning about these different people in history that did something with their life, and they were coming from the same situation I was in,” said Thomas.  

An unexpected path

School became the escape, but his involvement in the theater program had him taking the most unexpected step. 

“I looked up and all of them were, and all my friends were in on it. My teacher, Mr. Will Sterling, he was in on it,” said Thomas. 

At the end of the school year, Thomas was given a $40,000 scholarship from the Dr. Phillips Center for his acting accomplishments at the Applause Awards. 

“I cried. I cried right there on stage,” said Thomas. “I seen it as a liberation. Oh my God, I get to go to a performing arts school in New York City! I cried, I cried like the whole week.” 

Thomas has never left Florida. He now plans to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy come October. 

How you can help

“We really do feel that education is the key to breaking the cycle of homelessness and poverty. So their best chance for the future is to complete graduation and even beyond,” said Savino.  

“I don’t even know how it happened. But it happened," Thomas said. "It opened the door that I never thought I could see. I didn’t even believe I was going to do anything after high school."

Thomas’ scholarship only pays for part of his education and he could potentially not be able to attend AMDA this fall if he doesn’t raise the rest of the money. OCPS has started another scholarship program to help him and other students similar to him in the future.

To learn more about homeless students within OCPS and how you can help, visit https://www.ocps.net/departments/title_i/homeless_education.