Tough transition, taunts drive him to become a leader

Charles Guevarra was a shy 11-year-old boy who struggled with English when he transferred to Prospect School in Hempstead.

He was 9 when he and his family emigrated to College Point, Queens. But the move to Hempstead, a mostly black and Hispanic district, would be the tougher transition.

"When I stepped in Hempstead, I was bullied a lot of times," Guevarra, now 18, recalled. He was taunted for his Asian appearance: "I told them I'm part of Asia, but I'm not Chinese. I'm from the Philippines."

Because there were never more than two other Asian students, he said, and because of Guevarra's Filipino accent, he suffered taunts from classmates. "They pushed me around," he said. "They threw snowballs at me, even rocks."

But Guevarra said he doesn't regret the experience. It made him stronger and propelled him into the world of Marine Corps Junior ROTC. He ranked seventh in his class at Hempstead High School and in the fall will attend Norwich University, a military school in Vermont.

"The school district really helped me a lot," he said of Hempstead. "What people say about it being a bad neighborhood, some of it is true. But being here gave me a lot of encouragement and taught me how to protect myself."

In College Point, there were many other Asian students, Guevarra recalled. But at Hempstead, where he took English-as-a-second-language classes, classmates saw him as an oddity.

And so Guevarra focused on his studies, always striving for the highest grades. "The first year I was very quiet," he said of entering high school. "When I got to JROTC I changed into a more positive person."

The military discipline melded well with his dedication to school while the camaraderie boosted his confidence.

Now in his senior year, Guevarra is more outgoing and finds that his racial background allows him to mingle with diverse groups of students.

His experience of being different at Hempstead will help in the fall, he said, when he'll be at a mostly white school.