Yes, the other students do support him. In fact, he has led study groups at our house with groups of students.
At community college in California you find a variety of students: top students who are acing community college and will transfer to a UC school, students who are struggling but persistent, adult students, and some high school students trying to get ahead in math.
The top students and high school students (who are of course very bright) respect Evan and treat him as a peer in class. The
struggling students treat him as a little brother and, we hear, are a bit intimidated by him. The adult students are like an aunt or uncle to him and they ask us a lot of questions about the route Evan took to get where he is.
Evan is very savvy socially and understands the nuances of social and group situations. He somehow understands what everyone else is thinking, and he has a lot of leadership skills and charisma. These are all things my wife and I lack.
When he starts class on the first day, a lot of students think he is one of the older student's kids. After a few days they realize he is taking the class. He tries not to answer questions the first week, and he never answers anything that would make another student feel bad. He also does not brag, etc. He is careful with what he says and with his body language and therefore makes friends easily. He likes to be the center of attention with all eyes on him, yet he is very subtle about how he manages this. He maintains a fairly large network of friends.
I think the community college he goes to is a good one for acceptance of younger students as well because of the mix of ages and life experiences in the student body. Four year universities are made up of students who have stayed in an institutional environment (school) most of their life.
Generally, though, I think that community college versus high school is the big difference. High school is full of cliques and immaturity. Community college has students paying to be there and an environment that does not put up with misbehavior or bad attitudes. Everyone is older and more mature.
One student who has been a friend to Evan and will transfer to USC in the fall said that he would have been intimidated by Evan when he was in high school, but in a college environment there is no competition for grades or social status so it is a completely different situation.
Another factor is picking good classes. Using ratemyprofessors.com you can hand pick good classes with great professors. In such an environment all of the students thrive and bond.
--David
