Homeless kid aims to study medicine at Harvard
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Being homeless has not prevented some black youths from achieving their goals in life -- AFP Photo
June 2009: Barack Obama becoming President of the United States has changed our perception of black young Americans.
Now we know that despite the disadvantages and prejudices stacked against them, many black youths have the guts, discipline and intellectual talent to do very well in school, to be active leaders in their community, and to be focused on achieving their life goals.
Take the case of 17-year-old Kenneth Chancey who lives in a homeless shelter in Skid Row -- one of the most violent areas in Los Angeles, a sprawling city known for violent crimes among young blacks.
When he was younger, he used to live in a van with his mother who did drugs and a stepfather who beat him up. Later, he moved into the homeless shelter with his sister and father.
However, living in such difficult circumstances has not defeated him. Kenneth is a top student, the student body president and star football player at a Hollywood school. And he is applying for study in Harvard University’s medical school which he hopes will give him a future as a doctor.
He can't afford the school’s US$50,000-plus-a-year tuition, but that’s not going to stop him from trying for a place and a scholarship.
Kenneth can certainly look to Khadijah Williams for inspiration. Khadijah is another homeless teen from Los Angeles who will be attending Harvard this year.
Despite having attended 12 schools in 12 years, Khadijah graduated from Jefferson High School with a 4.0 grade point average. To get to school, she has to take a bus for a few hours daily to and from her homeless shelter. (In America, this score means achieving an A for every subject)
Khadijah received offers from more than 20 top universities, including Brown, Columbia, Amherst and Williams but will be taking a full scholarship in Harvard.
The Harvard interviewer who met with Khadijah to gauge whether she should be accepted said it was clear that Khadijah was a top student and is convinced that if Harvard doesn’t take her, they may be missing out on grooming the next Michelle Obama!
Kenneth and Khadija are facing odds that are enough to overwhelm most people. But they have maintained a powerful, potent vision for themselves that could serve as an inspiration for most of us.
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good president. -
nice !
admire them sia =<
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THEY ARE JUST THE 1 IN A MILLION BRIGHT PEOPLE WITH HIGER IQ.AS RARE AS STRIKING 4D .
IN HISTORY PEOPLE LIKE ABRAHAM LINCOLN....THOMAS EDISON ALL CAME FROM POOR BACKGROUNDS.ABRAHAM LINCOLN DIN HAVE ANY LIGHT EVEN TO STUDY n had to borrow light from his neighbour.........THOMAS EDISON HAD TO WERK IN A TRAIN WHICH HE BLEW UP WITH HIS SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS DURING his BREktime.
out of a million humans....only less than 10 are like these.....those that have photographic memory...good ideas and want a better world for u and me!
however most humans take them all fer granted and simply erase them off ......even if u are a thomas edison or a obama in spore....chances are u would be erased away of your very essence in spore.nothing will be left except what the mainstream insists of wat they want of u.either that or u die of starvation in places like spore!
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Originally posted by noahnoah:
Being homeless has not prevented some black youths from achieving their goals in life -- AFP Photo
June 2009: Barack Obama becoming President of the United States has changed our perception of black young Americans.
Now we know that despite the disadvantages and prejudices stacked against them, many black youths have the guts, discipline and intellectual talent to do very well in school, to be active leaders in their community, and to be focused on achieving their life goals.
Take the case of 17-year-old Kenneth Chancey who lives in a homeless shelter in Skid Row -- one of the most violent areas in Los Angeles, a sprawling city known for violent crimes among young blacks.
When he was younger, he used to live in a van with his mother who did drugs and a stepfather who beat him up. Later, he moved into the homeless shelter with his sister and father.
However, living in such difficult circumstances has not defeated him. Kenneth is a top student, the student body president and star football player at a Hollywood school. And he is applying for study in Harvard University’s medical school which he hopes will give him a future as a doctor.
He can't afford the school’s US$50,000-plus-a-year tuition, but that’s not going to stop him from trying for a place and a scholarship.
Kenneth can certainly look to Khadijah Williams for inspiration. Khadijah is another homeless teen from Los Angeles who will be attending Harvard this year.
Despite having attended 12 schools in 12 years, Khadijah graduated from Jefferson High School with a 4.0 grade point average. To get to school, she has to take a bus for a few hours daily to and from her homeless shelter. (In America, this score means achieving an A for every subject)
Khadijah received offers from more than 20 top universities, including Brown, Columbia, Amherst and Williams but will be taking a full scholarship in Harvard.
The Harvard interviewer who met with Khadijah to gauge whether she should be accepted said it was clear that Khadijah was a top student and is convinced that if Harvard doesn’t take her, they may be missing out on grooming the next Michelle Obama!
Kenneth and Khadija are facing odds that are enough to overwhelm most people. But they have maintained a powerful, potent vision for themselves that could serve as an inspiration for most of us.
it's nice to be born with such good IQ