Donovanne Jocas presented as a female while a senior at Hoover High School. The family's car was vandalized and Donovanne harassed. Now at college, Donovanne looks to educate those who want to know more.

PLAIN TWP. The Jocas family home used to be known for its tree house. Now, the neighbors know it as the house where the car was attacked.

That's OK with Michelle Jocas.

It's a sign the neighbors, many of whom are older, understand that what the family went through last spring was wrong, she said.

Earlier this year, the Jocas family was the target of escalating harassment and vandalism aimed at their child Donovanne, who began presenting as female during their senior year at Hoover High School.

Donovanne, now a student at Oberlin College, is gender fluid and prefers the use of they/their pronouns.

Vandals egged the family's home and attacked Donvanne's car, beating it with a baseball bat and spray-painting it with vulgar words and drawings.

The Stark County Sheriff's Office pursued the attacks as a hate crime and arrested three people — an adult and two juveniles — in June on misdemeanor charges of criminal damaging or complicity to criminal damaging. All three eventually pleaded guilty and were ordered to pay restitution.

The Repository typically does not name those who commit misdemeanor crimes.

Michelle Jocas, who owned the car, attended the hearings. Afterward, one of the juveniles asked to meet with her privately. He apologized, owned up to what he had done and said he was making changes in his life.

"Ultimately, what you want is to educate people," Michelle Jocas said. "That's what Donovanne and I were struggling with at the time; as frustrating as it was when it went down, it was a platform to educate people."

The family has helped others who reached out to them privately. Michelle Jocas received several Facebook messages from parents of transgender teenagers looking for support. People also reached out to Donovanne looking for the same.

"We were able to send them in a direction to get the help and education they needed," Michelle Jocas said.

Donovanne finished the fall semester at Oberlin College last week, taking courses in two passions: computer science and music.

"I love it," Donovanne said.

Donovanne, who's also a musician, just completed an EP —"It's not for everyone. It's different," Donovanne laughed — and will start work on an album in January.

Getting away from home and attending college in a "liberal bubble" like Oberlin has been freeing, and has allowed Donovanne to explore identity in a place where more people are understanding.

"It's definitely very easy to find friends ... I'm not just the token queer friend," Donovanne said. "It's very easy to be yourself there."

Donovanne offered some advice for other teenagers struggling to find acceptance.

"That old cliché saying that 'it gets better' because it does get better. You'll find people who you can be yourself with, even if it isn't until you go away to college," Donovanne said.

"And also, you don't have to label yourself. Gender and sexuality are a spectrum, and you don't always know how you're going to feel later," Donovanne added.

"For me personally ... I'm amorphous. I'm constantly changing."

Reach Jessica at 330-580-8322 or jessica.holbrook@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @jholbrookREP