Harvard Class of 2016

It's that time of year. Caps and gowns and celebrations with family and friends, awards and diplomas and happy tears as all the hard work pays off.  Dawn Loggins just graduated from Burns High School in North Carolina and is on her way to Harvard. When she visited the campus in April, she just knew. "I just could not picture myself anywhere else, at any other college," she said.

It has not been an easy road for Loggins. She grew up in the midst of abuse and neglect, with cockroaches and no running water and sometimes no electricity either. Her parents had problems with drugs. When she was a very little girl, she didn't understand that other people didn't live that way, wearing the same clothes every day and not bathing for months. The other kids would call her dirty and it made her cry. But Loggins is smart, and she began to picture a better way for herself. "When I was younger," she said, "I was able to look at all the bad choices and make a decision for myself that I was not going to end up like my parents."

Loggins worked as a janitor at her high school, and the staff at the school showed her a lot of support. She showered in the locker rooms, and had her clothes washed there. They encouraged her academic efforts as well. When she was 17, her parents abandoned her and she was homeless. She could have ended up in the system, but she wanted very much to have stability and graduate from Burns. So the people of Lawndale, North Carolina rallied around her and made sure she had what she needed. A home with a family, food and stability. Her supervisor at work traveled with her to Harvard in April so she could see the campus, the trip financed by the generosity of her "village." She turned 18 (legally an adult) during the second semester.

Loggins has a full ride at Harvard; tuition, room and board, and the school has offered to help place her in a job on campus. Since her story has been on CNN, there has been an outpouring of generosity from folks everywhere. She doesn't want the money, because she plans to keep working and she knows she will be fine. But she has set up a non-profit foundation for homeless students where the money can go, and she hopes that her story will shed some light on this very real problem in America.

There are some truly wonderful people in Lawndale, North Carolina, these folks who became a village for this young woman. She had a lot of help along the way, but really it all started when she was just a little girl, when she looked around and decided to picture a different way of life. She is thankful for those who showed her love and support, but let's not be distracted from the most powerful part of the story. For when it's all said and done, Ashley Dawn Loggins made this happen for herself.

Susan