TOWAMENCIN- Many times as people walk the halls of North Penn, amidst strangers, friends, family, faculty and staff rarely do they look around and wonder about the lives of others and the hardships they may face. As we are trapped in the middle of this modern day social media era, we seldom know the truth of what is not posted, shared or tweeted. It is rare that we stop and look at those around us and think of their lives and what they may be or have been going through in their lives.

North Penn High School junior Isaiah Swint, born in Williamsport, PA,  lived in Northeast Philadelphia until he was 10, living with his parents and brother Sharif.  Seeing Isaiah in the halls now, most would not begin to imagine the path that led him to his current position as a student-athlete living in Lansdale. However, his childhood was far from what most North Penn students know as their innocent days of elementary school Olympic Days and TYA t-ball games.

“It wasn’t really that bad because I was still young although both my parents were on drugs before I was even born so as a kid I never noticed it until I got older. Once I turned 10 we moved to Georgia and we only stayed there for about a year,” said Swint. 

While they were in Georgia, Swint’s mom used to stay out a lot, leave for a few days or weeks then come back then leave again. It was very hard on them.

“ It was hard on my dad especially because once I was born he stopped the drugs and started becoming more of a family man, meanwhile my mom was still going out and harassing my dad,” said Swint.

 They eventually got kicked out of that house and ended up taking a train back to Philly, only this time it was just his brother and dad- Swint’s mom stayed in Georgia. Ever since then they were in and out of houses continuously, sometimes in the bad parts of Philly, with bad schools, not knowing anybody. They missed many months of school because of being in and out of so many different residences. Eventually his mom sold her car to get enough money to buy a train ticket to Philly to rejoin the rest of the family. They stayed at a shelter together until getting kicked out because by that time Swint and his brother were teenagers so the shelter owners felt that they were old enough to be independent. From the shelter they moved to Norristown, living in three different houses over the course of five years.

“That’s when things started to get better. My mom seemed to have stopped doing her drugs, we were happy as a family and school was going well. Then July 6,  2011 struck and my dad passed away; my mom couldn’t handle it and slipped back into her life of drugs, my brother started doing drugs as well but not as much as my mom. My brother and I had no choice but to get jobs. It was hard because my mom would then start coming to us for drug money,” said Swint.  

A couple months ago Swint and his brother left their apartment and moved in with their older sister Sade, who is now 24 and currently lives in Lansdale; meanwhile his mom still lives in Norristown.

“She is doing a lot better; she’s off the drugs and getting her life together. If there’s one thing I can say it’s that my mom always made sure that my brother and I always had everything we needed, so even though she was always out on the street, she made sure we ate every single night;  she made sure we were happy. Even though she did what she did it wasn’t that bad because she still cared. I’m happy now, I appreciate more things that I have now, everything that comes my way- I’m more appreciative towards all the little things, I feel like everything I have is earned. Now I just work hard, and help the people who are younger than me. When they think things are bad and hard I can tell them what I’ve been through and how I am now, and through that they can be able to move on and cherish the things they do have and not worry about the things they don’t. Everything fell in place at the end, I’m playing football for North Penn, and I get to see my mom on the weekends as well as work at Walgreens in Norristown,” said   Swint.

In a school of about 3,000 students there are probably 3,000 different stories, but to know the adversity some students have overcome to be where they are today, if nothing else, certainly puts things into perspective, particularly in this age of tweets, instagrams, and snapchats where sometimes it is difficult to ever know more than a snapshot of someone’s life.