Turning Stutter to Strength, Freshman Simon H. Gets Invited to the White House

Written By: Gena Wynkoop, Editorial Content Manager

It’s not every day you get an email from the White House…especially not the White House Social Office, and especially not an invitation to visit the White House as an honorary guest.

But this rarity turned into reality for Seattle Academy Freshman Simon Hajduk, who while scrolling his phone after the 9th Grade Odyssey Trip realized that smack dab in the middle of his email inbox was a message from the White House Social Office.

“I got the email the Thursday we were out on the Odyssey trip,” said Simon. “When I got my phone again on Friday night, I read the email and saw the RSVP deadline was the day before!

“At first I was like, this is weird; I have an email from the White House Social Office, and I thought it was a scam, because why would the White House ever email a kid?”

But it was real, and the invite still stood for Simon. Let’s rewind back to 2022 when Simon was in the 8th grade.
Simon has a stutter, so he works with speech therapists and pathologists to build skills and strategies for improving his speech. Around that time in December, Simon had a new speech therapist who worked with the National Stuttering Association. He and his speech therapist met once a week.

“One day in my English class, my teacher had us all get in a circle to talk about an assignment.” Part of getting credit for the assignment was participation–meaning each student needed to speak up to get their points.

“Everyone had their chance to speak, some even twice. Everyone was interrupting each other,” Simon added. He decided to advocate for himself and approached the teacher to explain his frustrations. “That wasn’t okay with me because I couldn’t participate in class,” said Simon. He arranged for a sit-down conversation with his speech therapist and the school to discuss steps for a more inclusive classroom environment for students with speech disorders like stuttering.

His speech therapist was impressed with Simon’s tendencies towards advocacy and invited him to the University of Washington where he spoke to speech therapists and pathologists about stuttering. She then nominated him for the National Stutter Association Stutter of the Year Award–and he won!

It was such a celebration, and after he won, his grandmother encouraged him to reach out to the White House–there was a connection between President Joe Biden and Simon– both have stutters, and his grandmother thought it would be worth it to write him.

“I didn’t really want to do it but I finally just emailed the White House because I wanted my grandma to stop bothering me about it,” smiled Simon. “So I emailed them and said, ‘Is there any way I can be involved at all?”

Fast forward to Thursday, September 28th, 2023 when Simon was out and about enjoying the Odyssey trip with his fellow classmates, and a response email plopped into his inbox, inviting him as an honorary guest to the 50th Anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act and the 33rd Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Simon and his mom booked flights to D.C. and less than 24 hours later, Simon and his mom were on the grounds of the White House.

They toured the East Wing, then mingled with esteemed guests on the White House front lawn; the notable guest list included the likes of the CEO of the Epilepsy Foundation, key figures in the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the author of the 50-year-old Rehabilitation Act.

After mingling, the guests were invited to sit down, and President Joe Biden walked onto the stage with American actress Selma Blair who has been outspoken in the media about her journey with Multiple Sclerosis.

“After the speech, he stepped out from the podium to shake hands and meet people, and everyone was asking him for a selfie. When I finally got up to the front of the group, I had no idea what to say. I said, ‘Hey Mr. Biden’ and then he realized I had a stutter.”

President Biden then stopped to talk with Simon for roughly one minute–one minute that Simon says he will never forget and simultaneously… can’t really remember. “I was so excited and nervous, but he was really nice. He talked about how he stuttered when he was a kid. I don’t remember a lot because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the President of the United States.” 

“One thing I remember clearly was that he said his stutter was the best gift God gave him,” recalls Simon.

After his moment with the President, Simon met Vice President Kamala Harris too. He and his mom were having such a blast that the Secret Service had to ask them to leave the premises. “We stayed as long as we could have, it was so fun.”

In the week after, Simon had time to reflect on his brief but momentous conversation with President Joe Biden, cherishing the speech disorder that connects them in a way only the two can understand.

“It’s so cool that Biden has a stutter. He never stutters on stage while speaking, probably because he has a strategy around it, but when he talked to me and stuttered right in front of me, it was so cool to actually [be able to witness that].” 

While it took nearly 10 months for Simon to get a response email from the White House, it reminds us all that everything happens in due time. 

“I sent that email to the White House in December of 2022, and the person who invited me got their job at the White House in January, saw the email and thought, ‘hey, I’ll save this in case anything comes up–and something did,” smiled Simon.

Congratulations, Simon!