Boy who slept in trash bin is student of the year

updated 2:41 p.m. ET May 23, 2007

DECATUR, Ala. — Eleven-year-old D.J. Graffree didn't realize he was a child.

For much of his life, he was a cocky kid who didn't need any adults to look after him or tell him what to do. He was always in and out of schools in his small town outside of Jackson, Miss. He spent a lot of times out on the streets.

At one point, he slept in a trash bin to stay warm.

Yet two weeks ago, D.J. was named Decatur City Schools' Elementary Student of the Year.

D.J.'s face was bewildered when the honor was announced at the school system's annual breakfast May 10. His cousin and guardian Patti Lewis' face was first joyful, then tearful.

He later said it was simply luck that earned him the award.

When pushed further, he finally conceded it was more than that.

"They like my behavior and my attitude," he said.

Long, tough journey
For Lewis and her family, taking in D.J. seven months ago has been a long, tough journey. But then, it has been for him, too.

"He seems to have turned his life around and I think it's because he wants to," Lewis said. "But it wasn't all peaches and cream when he first came. We had to let him know that we were in control."

When D.J. came to Decatur, he was placed in CASE Alternative School in Decatur. He had been kicked out of his last school system in Mississippi.

So when D.J. finally left CASE and came to fifth grade at Somerville Road Elementary, neither his family nor school administrators knew how he would fare. He had a bad attitude, wouldn't do his work and was disrespectful. Because of all of his time on his own, he resented authority and boundaries.

D.J.'s teacher, Judith Looney remembers that defiant Graffree well.

"You could tell by his posture, his body language and expression that he didn't want to be here," she said. "He had that attitude like 'Don't mess with me.' "

D.J. would come home to Lewis and cry over his homework and tell her he couldn't do it. But she knew better.

"There were several times where he told me he'd like to go back to living on the streets because it was easier for him," she said.

Adult humor
D.J. also had trouble fitting in with his peers. His adult humor and persona came from growing up quickly and hanging out mostly with adults.

Yet Lewis would discover him playing with her 6-year-old daughter's dolls at home. He told her he had never seen so many toys before.

"He never had a chance to play or never had a birthday party," she said. "He's missed out on a lot of his childhood things."

When Lewis went to visit D.J. and the rest of her extended family in Mississippi last year, she was shocked.

On that trip, D.J. broke down and told her everything about his life on the streets — about the drugs, being forced to steal to eat, and being whipped with chains. With his mother in jail, he had been shifted around to different relatives several times and had even run away from them.

He told Lewis, "I need a break."

Already the guardian for D.J.'s older brother Patrick, who had been in her custody since he was two days old when his mother said she couldn't care for him, Lewis was tempted to reunite the two brothers and give D.J. the stable home life he never had.

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