Not many kids out there with this kind of determination

[alnorth]

Couple years ago this girl's drugged-out parents abandoned her, she was briefly homeless, got a part-time job working as a janitor at her high school in a small rural North Carolina town, and through it all managed to keep her grades up enough to get accepted into Harvard.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/07/us/from-janitor-to-harvard/

4-part series from the local newspaper (http://www.shelbystar.com/articles/custodian-63977-kids-dawn.html)

[JD10367]

Looks like a nerdy Jennifer Morrison. I'd hit it.

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

That's awesome.

[headsnap]

I bet she is smart enough to not hang out in the left-hand lane...

[SDKCCHIEFS]

Looks like a nerdy Jennifer Morrison. I'd hit it.

....eeww....

[stlchiefs]

Wow, what a cool story. Very mature girl for her age.

[WhiteWhale]

I don't mean to belittle the girl here.

I do think the amount of help she received from others gives me more faith in humanity. I can think of a lot of people I know who could have used just one or two people to give a damn about them and they may have turned out differently.

[alnorth]

I don't mean to belittle the girl here.

I do think the amount of help she received from others gives me more faith in humanity. I can think of a lot of people I know who could have used just one or two people to give a damn about them and they may have turned out differently.

no doubt. I hadn't thought of it this way, but I think she also made it very easy for other people to want to help her. You look at her case, straight-A's, was picked to attend a special academic camp for gifted students, then see she's abandoned by her parents, your reaction might be to think "oh, hell no", and you open up your wallet and your time to help. Take the same kid, who also needs help, but is not as tough or resilient and they sink into crime or apathy, those same people might not be as willing to help, because they might look like lost causes.

[Easy 6]

I bet she is smart enough to not hang out in the left-hand lane...

LMAO

[DeezNutz]

no doubt. I hadn't thought of it this way, but I think she also made it very easy for other people to want to help her. You look at her case, straight-A's, was picked to attend a special academic camp for gifted students, then see she's abandoned by her parents, your reaction might be to think "oh, hell no", and you open up your wallet and your time to help. Take the same kid, who also needs help, but is not as tough or resilient and they sink into crime or apathy, those same people might not be as willing to help, because they might look like lost causes.

Yep, should be. Clip stirred some dust in my office.

[Tombstone RJ]

Good for her! A full ride to Harvard, that is impressive. I hope she makes the best of it and it appears she will.

[suzzer99]

Dammit who's cutting onions in here! Stupid onions making get all watery-eyed.

[Pitt Gorilla]

That is awesome. It's a shame that her parents couldn't see how incredible their kids really were.

[aturnis]

My best friend's Ben Affleck...

[WilliamTheIrish]

A very good story. I know we criticize teachers here pretty much daily. But these teachers should be getting some pats on the back for doing what they could to help. This kid is an incredible success story.

And hopefully she'll continue to be a great story.

[Bump]

Wow, a person in Harvard with no spoon made of silver?

[J Diddy]

Wow, a person in Harvard with no spoon made of silver?

The way I understand it, you only get into harvard if you are really, really rich or really, really poor.

[mikey23545]

Wow, I remember some presidential candidate proposing that low income students could be offered jobs like this girl works to help them out and he was accused by liberals of advocating slavery...

[kysirsoze]

Wow, I remember some presidential candidate proposing that low income students could be offered jobs like this girl works to help them out and he was accused by liberals of advocating slavery...

Yeah, that was one of Newt's ideas I actually really liked.