From homeless teen to Harvard student

[Exterous]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/07/us/fro...ard/index.html
(Well worth reading the whole article)

Dawn grew up in a ramshackle home with no electricity and no running water. She often went days, even weeks without showering. She and her brother Shane -- who was equally studious in his schoolwork -- would walk 20 minutes to a public park to fetch water.

As she prepared to leave the summer program, she kept calling her parents' phone, only to learn it had been disconnected

"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

Since Dawn's story has come out, she's attracted attention worldwide from well-wishers sending her everything from simple encouragement to monetary donations.

Dawn doesn't want the money. "When I get to college, I can work for what I need. And I know my future is going to be great."

She hopes to start a nonprofit organization to help other teens who've had obstacles in their educations, using the funds that have been sent to her. There are more than 200 students listed as homeless in Cleveland County, where Lawndale is located.

"There are so many kids whose futures aren't so sure, and they need help more than I do," she says

Not only is what she accomplished and struggled with amazing but her attitude towards the donations is astounding! It's sad to see that her parents cared so little for their own daughter but great to see people come together to help her out as well

[Anarchist420]

That's good that she and others cared.

[NeoV]

http://rollingout.com/culture/homele...ip-to-harvard/

Apparently Harvard hit the streets, literally, recruiting this year..

[Printer Bandit]

Originally Posted by NeoV

http://rollingout.com/culture/homele...ip-to-harvard/

Apparently Harvard hit the streets, literally, recruiting this year..

baller...

In the end, Boone applied to 23 colleges and was accepted to 22 of them, including Ivy League powerhouses such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania

[William Gaatjes]

I would not be surprised, she will be a life changer for others in a positive way. Her determination, her strength will grow even more over time.

[Exterous]

Originally Posted by NeoV

http://rollingout.com/culture/homele...ip-to-harvard/

Apparently Harvard hit the streets, literally, recruiting this year..

Nice (Although I despise articles whose 'read more' just links to another site that has the same snippet of the article and I have to click on another link to get the full story)

[ichy]

It's nice to read a story where I get nothing but warm & fuzzy feelings. The only problem with it is that I now feel utterly worthless in comparison to this young woman.

[Mursilis]

An amazing young person. I'd love to see what she's doing in 20 years. She's obviously pretty gifted and determined.

[Freshgeardude]

wow. amazing read.

[rchiu]

Another evidence that our education system is not as bad as people claimed to be. It's the whiners that are not taking advantage of the system, and try to blame everyone, everything other than themselves.

[Infohawk]

Originally Posted by rchiu

Another evidence that our education system is not as bad as people claimed to be. It's the whiners that are not taking advantage of the system, and try to blame everyone, everything other than themselves.

Anecdotes are not very good evidence.