Three Springs High School: Max Humphrey’s roundabout journey leads them to Three Springs, SFCC

Imagine for a moment having moved so many times in your life that you can’t recall exactly how many. Now imagine that you’ve done that by the time you’re 17 years old.

That’s the beginning of the story for Three Springs senior Max Humphrey, who – in the words of their counselor Travis Weese – “has had to persevere through personal life challenges and overcome obstacles that many teenagers are oblivious to.”

Humphrey has been enrolled at Three Springs for all four years of high school, but before that had been back and forth between Seattle and Spokane, even living in Walla Walla for a while.

“I was little, so I don’t know why we moved so much,” they said. “And after a while I didn’t really pay attention. I do know that my mom didn’t have any consistency in her life, so there was no stability for me.”

“Max has proven time and again that they are resilient and capable,” Weese said, and Humphrey said that resilience comes from having begun to develop a sense of self-worth.

“When I was much younger,” they said, “I didn’t think I would make it to 18. But when I was 16, I had a revelation and realized that I was tired of self-pity and negative self-talk. I’m still in the process of learning to love myself, but I know that I’m a strong person who has made it through lots of stuff.”

Humphrey came out as transgender when they were in middle school, and said that despite some initial issues, “being a trans kid wasn’t terrible. I would get misgendered sometimes, but usually people would use my preferred pronouns.”

More than that, Humphrey said, high-school drama led to the decision to enroll in the Running Start program for the past two years, a choice which their mother encouraged in order to address some of the struggles that Humphrey was experiencing.

“I got involved in some of that,” they said, “and it hindered my growth and held me back in my maturing process. (Spokane Falls Community College) has been less stressful because there’s no drama and nobody’s judging me. The first time I went into a class there, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I still have lots of anxiety about school, but that’s about my procrastination and leaving things until the last minute.”

Humphrey is so accustomed to meeting their challenges head-on that they mentioned only as an afterthought having been born with optic nerve hypoplasia, a birth defect which caused them to be blind in one eye.

“It was difficult to deal with as a child, and is still, but I have learned to go about my everyday life with it. That’s just a cool fact about me.”

Plans for the future include working two jobs this summer to save for their own apartment, continuing community college to get both Associate of Arts and Associate of Fine Arts degrees, and building a portfolio to get a tattoo apprenticeship.

“I’ve always been very creative and artistic,” Humphrey said, “and I love music, literature, really any kind of art.”

And after all that, let Weese have the last word:

“Max is beyond gifted, a natural storyteller and artist. The grit and ability to adapt is a skill which will open new and exciting opportunities for Max as they move into their next chapter. The whole staff at Three Springs is rooting for Max; we want to see them fly!”