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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a struggle.\u00a0 <\/span>It was rough,\u201d Elijah says of his time growing up in Compton, where only a little over half of students graduate high school.\u00a0 <\/span>He remembers a defining moment when he was little:\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIt was kind of late at night, my mom ran into my room, and they were shooting outside.\u00a0 <\/span>So we would lay, actually, right there, kind of looking at each other.\u00a0 <\/span>I was just…looking at my mom for strength … That moment changed me forever.\u00a0 <\/span>I knew I would have to leave Compton.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Elijah worked hard to achieve his goals, immersing himself in his studies, and never losing focus of his academic goals.\u00a0 He was accepted to a prestigious high school, over an hour away from home, and there he excelled – using the long commute to study.\u00a0 Academics always came first, and he achieved a 4.69 GPA on a 5.0 point scale.\u00a0 He was also a star football player, a track athlete, a leading actor in the school\u2019s productions, and chair of the school\u2019s peer mentoring program.\u00a0 He became fluent in Spanish.\u00a0 \u201cI think that struggle – it ignites a fire under you to want to work hard and to want to do more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything in his life is preparing him for his future,\u201d his proud mother said.\u00a0 \u201cHe has been through a lot, he has seen a lot and guess what? It made him stronger.\u201d\u00a0 Elijah credits his mom with getting him to where he is, and she credits him with giving her the strength to be a mom.\u00a0 His mother raised him alone for 13 years while his dad was in a federal penitentiary.<\/p>\n And where is he now?\u00a0 Only five percent of applicants are accepted into Harvard, one of the world\u2019s most prestigious universities, and 17-year-old Elijah is one of these elite Harvard bound graduating high school seniors!!! \u00a0 Harvard awarded Devaughn a complete tuition, room and board scholarship, and his mom set up a GoFundMe campaign to help with books and other school expenses.<\/p>\n Where will Elijah be in 10 years?\u00a0 \u201cUmm, maybe med school, maybe Wall Street, or maybe an actor on somebody’s stage,\u201d he says. \u201cI don’t know, but I will be somewhere great. I know that.\u201d Ducking for cover when he hears the ricochet of gunshots outside his bedroom window will now be a distant memory.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n May the Good News brighten your day!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Jeremy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"