Written by: Makayla Dilliner
Edited by: Ms. Christina Shaffer
Many of us may agree, high school, not to mention life, has its ups and downs. Not only must we juggle grades, extra curricular activities, jobs and our social lives, but our home lives as well. But how bad is too bad until we decide that it is enough? And how much pain does one have to go through yet still decide to grow and become stronger from it?
When English teacher Mr. Samulski was a senior in high school, he decided he was done with his dangerous home life environment and walked out becoming homeless. Luckily his story did not end there. Now he is able to share his struggle of going from being penniless to how he is now studying for his PHD and a proud owner of a condo in Kaneohe, Hawaii.
Mr. Samulski gives insight on how a damaged home life can negatively impact anyone in school, “I was definitely one of the students on the verge of dropping out. [Talking about his home life], In my case there was a lot of substance abuse and mental health issues. It leaves a lot for the students to try and deal with,” said Mr. Samulski.
Despite the hardships going on at home, Mr. Samulski shed light on what kept him going, not only the support of friends and adults, but dance, “It was one of the things that I was always able to find joy in and gain support from adults who are maybe more actively invested in students. The only reason I was able to dance is because I worked as a janitor in the dance studio. Cleaning toilets in exchange for a scholarship.”
So how and why did Mr. Samulski actually make the bold decision to leave? “The unfortunate course of addiction is an overtime ramp up. And becomes increasingly harder to deal with. And that's because at the start of my senior year, even though I was at a better place, my family had declined a lot. And the household that I was living in was not safe. People going in and out. My mom was dating a lot of abusive people. To her and to me. And it became too hard to deal with.”
Mr. Samulski shares how he was able to make it through his rough times, “I was fortunate enough to have friends and by extension their families, who took me in. Actually a lot of my dance teachers opened up their households and took me in, and I rotated around to different places,” he said.
And while he can still relate to any students going through a rough patch in their life, he can also relate to being in need of help from organizations but keeping everything private. “I didn't know or understand that there were support networks in place. None of my teachers knew I was homeless, so I think a lot of teenagers can empathize with, they are really good at hiding things- and that’s not always necessarily a good thing.”
Even now, Mr. Samulski uses the experiences that he went through at a teen age in order to better understand his students, “I appreciate that on some level that I can connect with students who are going through hardship a little bit more. I think too often we get distracted by the pressure of academics and we don’t really see if maybe someone has something going on at home that may be taking away their ability to focus on academics.” And while it may seem like life will never get better than what it is now, Mr. Samulski is an example that you can do whatever you set your mind to. “Hard times will not last forever. There's more hope out there than you might realize. You just have to talk to people. and it's hard. I did. I have found a very supportive hanai family out here that has grown to mean the world to me. And they were able to help me in ways that my own family never has.”