If the Deer Creek High School senior is tardy, it isn't because he has Down syndrome. It's because he can't walk through the school's halls without other students calling him into a classroom or stopping him to chat.
"Actually, I'm a pretty cool guy," Tibor said.
The students who know Tibor best agree.
Tibor is a manager for the wrestling team and was named this year's homecoming king with another student.
"I think everybody in this whole school knows him," said Matt Slover, who also is a senior at Deer Creek. "Everybody loves Shawn."
Slover has known Tibor since the fifth grade, but the pair really became friends this academic year when Slover signed up to be a peer tutor.
Fifteen students participate in the one-credit-hour program, allowing them to mentor students in Teri Hooks-Martin's special education class.
Hooks-Martin said about 30 students sign up to enroll in the class each year, forcing her to interview to narrow the group.
"That's really more than I should have in it, but I hate turning kids away," she said. Hooks-Martin said she thinks the class teaches tolerance.
"Not only does it teach people to be more tolerant of diverse groups here at the high school, but it brings it into the society," she said. "When one person is more tolerant and accepts diversity it spreads."
Peer mentoring is rewarding for those who participate, students said.
"If I had a choice, I'd be in this class every hour," said Luke Stanford, a Deer Creek senior who participates in the program.
"I think we all would -- seven hours a day."
Stanford also became friends with Tibor through the program. He said he likes to do things with Tibor outside of school, like going to a Hornets game and a rodeo.
"He's really fun to hang out with," Stanford said.
The program also is beneficial to the student being tutored. It allows Tibor to take elective courses like photography outside of the special education classroom. He also has a student work-study job setting up chairs in the cafeteria.
More importantly, students say the program has helped integrate Tibor and other students with disabilities into the general school population.
"I care for him like I would my own brother," Slover said about Tibor. "I didn't know much about people with disabilities until I got into this class.
"I think every school should do this."
