A journey to better things

Jeffrey Thompson, Star Tribune

Stefan Kavan plugged his ears as classmates celebrated their graduation from New Prague High School around him last Friday.

An autistic teen's graduation offers his family a chance to look at how far he's come.

By EMILY JOHNS, Star Tribune

Last update: June 14, 2008 - 6:24 PM

Rows of cribs fill the sparse room in the video of a Romanian orphanage that Barb and Stefan Kavan play as part of their presentation on autism.

Stefan, just under 2 at the time, stands up in his crib. Surrounded by crying boys, he stares curiously at the woman speaking English to him.

On last Friday, Barb and her husband, Jerry Kavan, watched Stefan graduate from New Prague High School, almost 18 years after they welcomed him into their home in Le Center and took on the job of raising a son who wasn't like the others.

Stefan is autistic. For the Kavans, graduation provides the chance to not only look into the future and wonder how he'll do when he moves out this summer, but also prompts a look into the past. He first came into their house in 1991, a disabled child from Romania, otherwise destined for a home for "irrecuperables."

"I'm feeling very proud and excited," Barb, special education coordinator at a New Prague elementary school, said last week.

"But I'm also feeling a bit of sadness, knowing that this part is over," she said. "[It] was the last time I drove [Stefan and his brother, Eugen, also a senior] to school. That was really emotional."

Autism, once a rare disability, affects one of every 150 children in the United States. It's a developmental disability that makes social and communication skills a challenge.

Stefan has a matter-of-fact manner. At 19, he spent his high school years singing in the choir (he has perfect pitch), competing with the Knowledge Bowl team and working a part-time job at a New Prague drug store.

At the end of this month, the Kavans plan to take a trip to Romania. Eugen was also adopted from Romania, and it will be the first time they've returned.

Stefan, who loves trains, is looking forward to the train ride between Bucharest and Timisora, where his orphanage is.

In the fall, he plans to attend a transition program at Dakota County Technical College, which helps special education students move from high school to the rest of their lives. He's also determined to move out of his parents' house, having toured at least one group home already.

He's not really sentimental about leaving, Barb said. "Sentimental" isn't really his thing.

At a graduation rehearsal last week, students filed onstage to practice receiving their diplomas.

After rehearsal, Stefan made his way across the high school parking lot to a barbeque for seniors.

He said he'd finished school for good the day before, and all his homework had been turned in.

"I'm excited," he said, "to see what happens."

Emily Johns • 952-882-9056