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From one president to another: Roman Catholic student gets a letter from Obama

Stefan Johnson sent off the letter in February, not expecting an answer. After all, President Obama gets thousands of letters a day and responds personally to only 10.

Stefan Johnson, the first African-American student body president of
Roman Catholic High School, and his mother Monica Johnson in their
South Philly home. (Ron Tarver / Staff Photographer)
Stefan Johnson, the first African-American student body president of Roman Catholic High School, and his mother Monica Johnson in their South Philly home. (Ron Tarver / Staff Photographer)Read more

Stefan Johnson sent off the letter in February, not expecting an answer.

After all, President Obama gets thousands of letters a day and responds personally to only 10.

Johnson, 18, had been elected student council president at Roman Catholic High, the first African American Catholic student to win the honor in the school's 120-year history.

"Thank you President Obama for inspiring me to do great things," Johnson wrote, describing for Obama the projects he had launched to improve the school. He described the president as more of an influence "than I can ask."

Johnson didn't give the letter much thought until three months later, when he received a large yellow envelope. Inside, he found a handwritten note:

"Stefan - Thanks for the letter. We are very proud of you, so keep it up," read the note, signed Barack Obama.

"I didn't think I would get anything back," said Johnson, sitting at a table in his South Philadelphia home surrounded by his awards and certificates.

"Just think - he sat in the Oval Office or on Air Force One and wrote to you," said the Rev. Joseph Bongard, 51, president of Roman Catholic, who had urged Johnson to write Obama.

In June, Johnson got a call from a White House staffer who told him the president was so touched by his story that he wanted Johnson to tour the White House. A visit is being planned for late July with Johnson's mother, Monica Johnson; his grandmother, Reba M. Edwards; Bongard; and a friend.

Though he lives with his mother, Johnson has spent a lot of time with his grandparents in Overbrook.

It's a bond that helped him face his family's challenges, especially after his father was sent to prison when Johnson was a baby, he wrote to Obama.

"My grandparents, in my father's absence, have been a big inspiration for me," Johnson wrote. "Not only for financial support, but also motivation and emotional support as well."

His grandfather James Edwards was his male role model.

"My grandpop did a good job," Johnson said.

Johnson told Obama about the other challenges he faced, such as moving several times to new neighborhoods and his "hardest transition": transferring from an inner-city public school to a small private school: "It was a completely different environment. I think that I struggled at times to find myself," he wrote.

It was his mother who insisted that he attend Roman, on Vine Street in Center City.

Stefan was initially rejected by Roman in 2005 but was accepted after his mother appealed to the school. She kept him enrolled, paying tuition ahead of car payments when she lost her clerical job in 2008.

"Everything worked out for the best," said Monica Johnson, a framed rejection letter from Roman Catholic sitting on a table in front of her.

Stefan has since proved he was up to the challenge. An honor roll student, he graduated in June with a 3.6 grade point average. He was awarded scholarships and aid that will allow him to attend La Salle University in the fall.

Johnson had a "life-changing" experience in April 2008, when he attended an Obama rally at Independence Mall. Unaware that he needed a ticket, Johnson was given one by a stranger and stayed for the entire event, all 51/2 hours. "It was worth it," he said.

"He wanted to do what he could do to help people, and I think everyone felt it," Johnson said about Obama. "I then wanted to do what I could do to help the people at my school."

He decided to run for student council president although, there too, he faced a challenge.

"People had expensive buttons and gigantic posters, and I couldn't afford that," said Johnson, who put up fliers around the all-boys school.

After a month of campaigning, Johnson won by six votes among nine candidates, making him the third African American to be elected, but the first who is Catholic.

Johnson and his administration started a recycling program at their school and hosted several fund-raisers. They also conducted a notebook drive and sent them to Guatemala.

"As president, sometimes I am burdened with things that I can't do which are completely out of my control; but I still enjoy being president," he wrote.

At La Salle, Johnson plans to major in communications and political science.