Donations pour in for homeless valedictorian

WHAT A DIFFERENCE a week has made in the life of Nicholas Shanks, the homeless valedictorian profiled last week in the

Daily News

.

Nicholas, 18, now has a scholarship fund allowing him to go to any college of his choice. His story has been picked up by local and national news organizations.

And Nicholas may meet his long-lost aunt, who had not been able to locate him since he had to move into a homeless shelter with his mother and grandmother four years ago.

He is scheduled to appear on "Good Morning America." He has also been approached by the "Today" show, NBC10 and several local radio stations.

"I'm really happy about it," Nicholas said about his fund. "I don't have to worry about the funds or the money. All I have to worry about is my actual education."

E-mails and phone calls have been pouring in to the Daily News from people who want to help Nicholas, after the newspaper reported July 24 that despite his 3.91 grade-point average at Martin Luther King High School, he had no way to pay for college.

When Terri Casimir, 45, opened the paper that day, she realized that the person smiling back at her was her young nephew Nicholas with his mother Sheila Newton, Casimir's half-sister.

"It really didn't click until I read [Newton's] name. I was just in shock . . . I didn't even know they were in a shelter," Casimir said.

Casimir, who lives in Mount Airy, had lost contact with her older sister after Newton, Nicholas and his father were evicted from their apartment on Bustleton Avenue near Gifford, in the Somerton section. That was before Newton, Nicholas and his grandmother moved into a homeless shelter.

In 2005, Newton had sent her sister a card saying that she had found a lump in her breast, but she didn't mention that she and Nicholas were living in a shelter, Casimir said.

Ironically, during the same time that Newton and Nicholas were living at Mount Airy Stenton Family Manor, in Mount Airy, Casimir's son was attending Hill Freedman Middle School, which was right next door.

"It's amazing that they were so close and I didn't really know anything," Casimir said.

The last time Casimir saw Newton and Nicholas was at her wedding in 1991 when Nicholas was just 2 years old, Casimir said.

"It's going to be a nice reunion. I just got to be prepared," Newton said. "I'm excited about it."

Student's plight inspires donors

Last week, Foundations Inc., the nonprofit organization that helps manage Martin Luther King High and three other schools in the northwest part of the city, said it would collect money for Nicholas to pay the tuition for a college of his choice.

"I really think it was probably as a result of the story in the Daily News that other people found out about Nicholas' plight," said John Henderson, executive director of communications for Foundations.

Response was "overwhelming" from people who wanted to donate money for Nicholas, said Sherrine Wilkins, executive director of school services for Foundations.

He has been accepted at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, but he also wants to look into other college options, he said.

On Thursday, Nicholas met with a faculty member from the University of the Arts to discuss his art portfolio. He could enroll as soon as January of next year, he said.

Some hurdles remain

The day after the article was published, his mother lost her job as a teaching assistant at the Brightside Academy preschool, on Meadow Street near Darrah Street in Frankford, she said.

The reason? "Missing paperwork from her files," said Sarah Horn, a Brightside spokeswoman. She declined to elaborate, citing employee confidentiality.

Horn told the Daily News that the article, which revealed Newton's past drug use, had not been the cause of her job termination. Horn said that she was "bummed" that the decision came so soon after Nicholas' public success.

Newton, who has bad credit, has until October to relocate with Nicholas from the visitation home on Kensington Avenue near Lehigh where they have lived for two years. With Nicholas most likely not able to start school until the new year, this fall both mother and son again could find themselves without a home.

"I will find a job, regardless of what it is," said Newton, a breast-cancer survivor and a diabetic.

The University of the Arts estimates that a student staying on campus will need $43,986 per year for tuition, housing, books and living costs. The four-year program leading to a bachelor's degree in fine arts in film and animation, which Nicholas said he may pursue if he goes to the school, could cost about $176,000.

Because of his high GPA and low economic status, Nicholas also could receive a substantial federal financial-aid package.

Foundations "has every reason to believe" that it will be able to channel enough money to pay for Nicholas to attend the school of his choice, Wilkins said. Wilkins and Henderson said it is unclear exactly how Nicholas will receive his money and whether it will cover more than tuition and board.

In the meantime, Nicholas is growing weary from the media attention, but is adapting.

"People coming to my job and taking me out of my sessions . . . I'm getting used to it," he said with a sigh.

Donations may be sent to: Nicholas Shanks College Fund, c/o Sherrine Wilkins, Executive Director of School Services, Foundations Inc., 2 Executive Drive, Suite 1, Moorestown, NJ 08057. To help other homeless students living in local shelters, see the United Way's "Stuff the Bus" campaign at www.liveunitedphilly.org.