As a child, Jonny Yocum asked his grandfather a delicate question.

“Grandpa,” he said. “Can I call you dad?”

Bruce Yocum paused, understanding the difficulty of the situation before answering.

“I wouldn’t let him,” he said. “I told him, Jon, you’re like a son to me, but you’re my grandson.”

Now a graduating senior at Hopkinton High School, Jonny Yocum, 18, has met with more challenges than many students face.

Having a father whose name he barely knows, seeing his mother once in recent memory and being raised by his grandparents, Jonny was forced to adapt.

When he was born, Jonny’s father was not ready for a child. He was abusive to his newborn son, and Jonny’s mother, Samantha, decided she wanted her son out of that situation.

So his mother brought Jonny to live with Bruce and Thongkum Yocum in Hopkinton, something that wasn’t always easy for the active youngster.

“It’s not been easy. It isn’t like they’re young or hip. They’re so much different,” Jonny said. “They’re used to quiet and being settled, and I just wanted to be a kid.”

Growing up without parents wasn’t the only obstacle Jonny had to overcome.

“Hopkinton is not a poor school, so it’s hard to fit in. I don’t have a lot of money around here, and I grew up with no parents. People gave me a hard time about a lot of things,” said Jonny. “It’s hard to make friends. Every day would be hell. I had to learn to deal with everything myself.”

Despite the difficulties, Jonny still became one of the more well-known faces in the hallways of Hopkinton High School.

“He’s a very social person. Everyone I know knows Jon because he’s such a social butterfly,” said Evan Morse, Jonny’s best friend since fourth grade. “He loves to be around people and loves to be the center of attention, and not in a bad way.”

Jonny’s mother now lives in Seattle, Wash., while his father has been in and out of jail. When asked what his father’s name is, Jonathan said, “This sounds bad, but I am not totally sure. I think it’s Ted or something.”

If he needs to, Jonny can still call and talk with his mother, though they have only seen each other once recently. Despite his father’s abuse, Jonny visited his father during one of his stints in prison.

“Even though he wasn’t the greatest to me, I still gave him the chance to make it right,” he said. “I believe everyone deserves a second chance. I decided to face it and see who he really was.”

Although Bruce Yocum said it was difficult at times raising his grandchild, it is in many ways the same as other parent-child relationships.

“It had its high and low points. In many ways it was typical. He was a child who was growing and learning and making mistakes, making you proud,” he said. “In many ways, it was just like a typical childhood, but the only difference is I was older and couldn’t keep up as fast.”

Jonny said he wasn’t always as comfortable talking about his past as he is now.

“It’s something I don’t mind talking about. It used to bother me,” he said. “I eventually started talking about it and learned to laugh at myself. It made me stronger instead of weaker.”

It was talking about it that Bruce Yocum said may have helped Jonny arrive to where he is now.

“Probably the hardest part was the fact that he just had a lot of difficulty, asking, ‘Why can’t I have a normal life?’ That was one of his big issues, his feeling of difference,” said Bruce. “The way we got through it was simply with lots and lots of talks.”

Morse said he has learned a great deal of independence since he became friends with Jonny, while talking over favorite video games and television shows in fourth grade.

“I’ve learned a lot about doing things on my own. I used to rely on my parents a lot and then after hanging out with him, I made my own path,” said Morse. “I planned out what I want to do in life and told them about it. They were impressed.”

After graduation, Jonny plans to attend Southern Maine Community College, where he wants to study communications. He looks forward to a new life, applying a lot of what he has learned throughout all of his experiences.

“I want to be kind of far away from here,” said Jonny. “It’s like the more things kept falling apart and breaking, the more I wanted to just get out of it. Instead of just sitting down and giving up, it motivated me to keep trying instead of letting myself give up. The more things went wrong, the more I wanted to make it right.”

Being 3,018 miles away from his mother and having an abusive father in and out of jail, Jonny has spent his entire life learning, and not just on school grounds.

“I’ve learned a lot. I learned that no matter how bad things are, there is always a way out. There’s always another answer,” said Jonny. “You don’t lose until you completely give up, you always have a chance to keep trying. I believe I’ll be OK no matter what happens.”