Despite the odds, homeless Waianae teen gets his high school diploma

News admin May 23, 2026 0 Comments

Despite the odds, homeless Waianae teen gets his high school diploma

WAIANAE (HawaiiNewsNow) – Graduating from high school is a big achievement. Eric Schultz had to overcome bigger challenges that most students don’t face.

“I was so grateful to just walk to the stage and grab my diploma,” he said after Friday night’s graduation ceremony at Waianae High School. “I was gonna cry, but I just held it in, and I just walked the stage.”

Schultz, 18, didn’t expect to be celebrating the accomplishment.

According to the latest Point In Time count, there were 802 homeless minors on Oahu. Nearly 90 percent of them were staying in shelters.

Schultz was one of them.

“I’ve seen plenty families have struggles with houselessness because of the rise of income and housing and jobs and all that. It’s hard to get now, I mean, to come by,” he said.

Schultz has been in and out of shelters since he was 15 as his parents struggled with addiction.

Hawaii News Now first met him earlier this year, when he spent a morning handing out donated items of homeless families along the Waianae Coast.

At that time, he said, “I was living in my car for almost a year, and I was still going to school at the same time. And it didn’t change my view on anything. I just kept working toward my goal to graduate.”

Schultz said he got a lot of help.

Desiree Adams became one of his hanai Aunties who helped him get back on track.

“He used to come over a lot because he was hungry and he didn’t have any food to eat,” Adams said.

Adams let him live in her family’s house for more than a year after making him promise that he would follow her rules — including obeying a curfew — and going back to school.

“He said, ‘You know, Auntie, will you help me? Will you help me go back to school?’ And so we took him back to school, got the paperwork, worked with his parents,” Adams said. “His parents were very supportive of me helping him.”

Schultz is still living at a transitional shelter operated by Residential Youth Services and Empowerment, or RYSE. The organization said only 50 percent of the youths that they help get their high school diploma.

Schultz is now one of those who succeeded.

“He thanks me a lot, but I said I don’t want any credit for this accomplishment,” Adams said. “You made the choice to change, and you made the choice to set your goals and follow your goals.”

Now that he has his diploma in hand, Schultz plans to attend trade school to study plumbing. But he also plans to continue helping those experiencing housing insecurity in the Waianae area.

“I hope my story can touch other people to go out at their schools to help find funding, or stuff to help out the community, like hygiene, food, clothes, toys — anything to help out,” he said.