Stephen Dwyer
Stephen Dwyer
Stephen Dwyer is a student at Dobson High School in Mesa, Arizona. Stephen had Leukemia and was exhausted and could not participate in classes from 2014 to 2015. He is also the student body president at the school.
He withdrew from the school in his junior to receive a life-saving bone marrow transplant for leukemia.
After that, he completed courses online until returning to school in fall 2015.
He rejoined the varsity swim team and added an early-morning class to help catch up academically.
He spent his senior year as a member of National Honor Society, and earned a 4.2 GPA in his first semester back.
Graduation Controversy
Dobson High School made headlines when they did not allow Stephen to sit with the graduating class at the schools graduation.
Due to his battle with Leukemia and having to miss about 9 months of school, Stephen was 2 and half credits short of graduation in June 2016.
Stephen will be finishing his remaining credits and graduating in December.
Since Stephen wants to swim in the fall he asked for permission to sit with the graduating class and was denied by the school.
Many students and parents at the Dobson High School thought this was unfair, and had signs in support of Stephen and wore orange t shirts since orange is the color representing leukemia awareness.