The day Minneapolis Henry High School student Santwoine Thornton was charged with raping another student during school hours last week, he was to be honored as a college scholarship winner.

An honor roll student, Thornton wrote last month in the school's online newspaper that he planned to attend Minneapolis Community and Technical College to major in urban park, recreation and youth development. He boasted he proved people wrong who believed he would be dead or in jail by the time he was 18.

Police say Thornton, 17, of Minneapolis and Henry student Raevon Conner, 18, of Brooklyn Park may be responsible for at least four sexual assaults at the school in May and June. Conner, who was charged with raping a different student, was an honor student, a football player and a member of the school's championship poetry slam team.

Henry Principal Gary Kociemba declined Monday to comment about Thornton and Conner, but said his heart goes out to the families of the students involved.

"Nobody likes to see anything like this happen," he said.

Kociemba said that the school didn't know about the assaults "until it was too late." A 15-year-old victim came to school officials June 4, the day she was allegedly assaulted by Conner. Further interviews by police turned up Thornton as a second suspect, as well as three more victims assaulted in May and June.

Stan Schmidt — ALL, Star Tribune
Raevon Conner had played football and had been on Henry’s poetry slam team.

"We need to continually encourage students to tell somebody at school if they are being bullied, harassed or threatened in any way," Kociemba said. "I plan to put a program in place this fall to emphasize this point."

Conner and Thornton worked in tandem, seeking a victim and luring her to an isolated stairwell in the school, police said. Once there, authorities said, they took turns forcing the girl to perform oral sex and acting as a lookout. They knew where surveillance cameras were, police said.

"We are concerned about making sure our school is safe," Kociemba said. "We plan to add more cameras and will have the district do a security audit."

'I have changed for better'

On Thursday, Thornton was to attend a ceremony for students receiving a scholarship from the Page Foundation, started by Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page. The program seeks to inspire young people of color to positively influence younger children by offering mentoring and financial aid for college in exchange for their volunteer service.

In his letter for Henry's online newspaper, Thornton said, "I was one of those kids you would look at and shake your head no. Thoughts would run through your mind like he will be dead or in jail by the time he's 18."

"Well, I am proud to say I am a couple of months away from my 18th birthday and I have experienced neither," he wrote. "I was that troublemaker, that fight starter, but I have changed for the better."

Thornton said a staff member asked him to write the letter because a couple of years ago he predicted Thornton would be on a list of kids who wouldn't make it.

"I am glad to say I am proving him wrong in the right way," Thornton wrote. "On June 10th I will be graduating with a diploma in my hand."

The staff member wrote that Thornton was an avid reader who is rarely without a good book in hand. He was also nominated to be Henry's "most talkative" senior by the students.

Neither has criminal history

Conner was an honor roll student who played running back and defensive back on the football team his junior year. In 2006, he was a member of the school's championship poetry slam team.

Neither Conner nor Thornton has a criminal history. Both are well-liked by their classmates and teachers, said Bobby Gibson, a recent Henry graduate who said he's known Conner since the eighth grade. But Monday he recalled Conner asking him to be a "lookout" one day at a little-used area of the high school.

Gibson said no without asking why.

"All I know is that he was going downstairs for something," said Gibson, 18. "I guess he didn't want to get caught for doing something stupid. I guess he did after all."

Jamika Wesley, 17, who will be a senior at Henry, said Monday that she has a hard time believing the accusations and wonders whether Conner might be the victim of a set-up.

"I don't know if it's true," Wesley said. "He talks to everybody. A lot of girls like Raevon. He flirts with them and they flirt right back. He isn't a rude boy."

Staff writer Terry Collins contributed to this report. David Chanen • 612-673-4465