Inspiring Story: From Homeless to Harvard

[gatsby]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/07/us/fro...tml?hpt=hp_bn1
An absolute must read and video to watch.

After years of moving and hopping from school to school, a 17-year-old girl was abandoned by her drug-abusing parents and left homeless. Her community rallied around her, providing shelter and running water, and she became a high school janitor while attending the same school. Her teachers encouraged the straight-A student to apply for college. She applied to Harvard.

Letter of recommendation by a teacher.
"Most students who face challenges that are not even remotely as difficult as Dawn's give up. This young lady has, unlike most of us, known hunger. She's known abuse and neglect, she's known homelessness and filth. Yet she's risen above it all to become such an outstanding young lady."

She was accepted, full scholarship for tuition, room and board.

Please read the story.

[coolweather]

so ya'll know how to get your kid a free ride to Harvard.

[713]

Damn it, I love America!

[VanityHalfBlack]

Her community rallied around her, providing shelter and running water.

So she's a basset hound???? Anyways, her parents must be proud at this point, GO HARVARD!!!!

[Shroopy2]

Originally Posted by VanityHalfBlack So she's a basset hound???? Anyways, her parents must be proud at this point, GO HARVARD!!!!

The parents that abandoned her and left her homeless?

"When I returned, my grandmother had been dropped off at a local homeless shelter, my brother had just left, and my parents had just gone," she says. "I found out later they had moved to Tennessee." Her voice is steady, matter of fact. "I never expected my parents to just, like, leave." Dawn was abandoned. "I'm not mad at my parents. My mom and my stepdad both think that they did what was best for me," she says. Dawn Loggins maintained an A-average despite her hardships. In fact, she used her parents' example to drive her. "I just realize that they have their own problems that they need to work through," she says. "They do love me; I know they love me. They just don't show it in a way that most people would see as normal."

How terrible. Part of it might be she's smart and aware enough to know they're dragging HER down as much. Maybe a little tiny piece that says "good riddance".

But those parental hardship things can resurface later. So hopefully she's at peace with it enough.

And there's gonna be some arrogant scientists who say that kids are "genetically predispositioned" to be what they are, in spite of upbringing. My ass. She coulda easily been a dropout or porn actress or a druggie herself.

[pouhe]

I didn't see any SAT scores in that puff piece so let's keep that ass in the library. Get an Econ or Engineering degree and table the homeless talk until Goldman or grad school interviews.

[rockbox]

She studied by candle and didn't have running water. She had to flush toilets with water she carried back from the park. She also didn't shower for months at a time in middle school because no one ever taught her the importance. Achieving without any role models or supervision is amazing. I grew up dirt poor coming to this country as a refuge but I had lots of love and great role models. What she did was much more difficult because I didn't have people dragging me down.

[gatsby]

Originally Posted by rockbox She studied by candle and didn't have running water. She had to flush toilets with water she carried back from the park. She also didn't shower for months at a time in middle school because no one ever taught her the importance. Achieving without any role models or supervision is amazing. I grew up dirt poor coming to this country as a refuge but I had lots of love and great role models. What she did was much more difficult because I didn't have people dragging me down.

It really is an amazing feat of how she turned out. Good for her. So good for her.

[Yonkers]

Haha. Bunch of hippies. In Texas kids whose parents leave them and yet still make good grades go to jail.