Homeless Kid Earns Spot At Harvard! Discover How A Homeless Child, Abandoned By Her Parents, Went From School Janitor To Harvard Student.

There were two YouTube videos that went viral not too long ago. Well… sort of…
One video got hundreds of thousands of views. Maybe even a million. The other only got about 12,000 views. The one that got so many more views was of a little kid, maybe 10 or 12 years old. The kid got an iPod for

Christmas. The kid went crazy, but not in a good way. He threw a complete tantrum because it was the wrong color. The other video was of a young woman named Dawn Loggins. Dawn was abandoned by her mother and father. They decided to take off one day to Tennessee and leave their teenage daughter in North Carolina. Most teenagers

would crumble, but not Dawn. Dawn is different. Dawn used it as motivation.
“I’m not mad at my parents. My mom and my step dad both think that they did what was best for me,” she says.

“I just realized that they have their own problems that they need to work through… 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.”

Dawn got a part-time job as a janitor at her school and worked long, hard hours. She stayed at different friend’s homes and slept on couches and floors.

These couches and floors were better than the broken-down house she grew up in that no longer had running water. It is reported that Dawn often went weeks without taking a shower. She had to walk 20 minutes to a park to get water to cook with and flush the toilet. Teachers at school gave Dawn candles so she could do her homework at night.

In a typical day, she was up at 5:20 a.m. to get to school by 6:00 a.m. where she would work for 2 hours as a janitor at her high school. Then, she would go to her day of classes that includes AP (Advanced Placement) U.S. History, AP Calculus, and Honors English, along with her clubs and other activities. As soon as the school day was over, she worked as a janitor for a couple more hours. Then, she did her homework. It was not uncommon for her to be up until after 2:00 a.m..

Dawn ended up with a 3.9 GPA and scored 2,110 on the SAT. She applied to four schools in her state: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, Davidson College, and Warren Wilson College. Then, she decided to reach for the stars. She sent in one last application to Harvard.

Dawn was accepted to the first four in-state schools she applied to, but heard nothing from Harvard for several months. Then, the letter from Harvard came. It was a small letter. A bad sign. A very bad sign. All her other acceptances came in a huge package with the acceptance material.

I guess Harvard likes to scare their incoming freshman because the letter congratulated Dawn for being accepted to the Harvard College Class of 2016, along with a full scholarship.

When interviewed on CNN, Dawn was asked, “What is your advice to other teens?”

She replied, “I have two pieces of advice to other students. The first one is – your situations don’t define you. You can take any classes you want and you can succeed. If you try hard, you can do anything. And I encourage people in poor situations to talk to someone at school… because the school system can help.”

She also advises other students to take advantage of all the opportunities they have.

Clearly, Dawn is correct. Situations do not define you. If Dawn can succeed, anyone can… Even if you got the wrong color iPod for Christmas.