Date: July 13th, 2020 6:12 PM
Author: ,.,;,;,.;,.;,.;,,,,;,.,;
#MeritDoesntMatter24
Y.O. Garbage Collector Gets Admitted To Harvard After Receiving Huge
Support From His Colleagues To Pursue His Education
Robertas Lisickis
BoredPanda staff
Meet 24-year-old Rehan Staton, a former garbage collector who was
recently accepted into Harvard. What makes this story incredible is the
fact that despite facing great adversities his entire life, he never let
it stand in the way of achieving his goal. Going from garbage
collection to studying in Harvard is no small feat! And it didn’t come
easy either.
Rehan Staton used to wake up at 4AM for his garbage collecting job—a job
he took on in the hope of supporting his family who were constantly
struggling to make ends meet.
Meet Rehan Staton, a former garbage collector who was recently admitted to Harvard Law School
Image credits: Rehan Staton
You see, when Rehan was eight, his mother abandoned the family, leaving
behind his brother, his dad, and himself. The once-stable household
ended up running into financial difficulties leading Rehan’s dad to take
on three jobs, working virtually around the clock in hopes of raising
two sons and ensuring their future success.
The situation got progressively worse, as Rehan explained, as there were
days the three of them struggled with food. There were times when the
electricity would just be shut off because they couldn’t pay the bills
on time. Besides this, many of their relatives ostracized them leaving
them to find support only amongst each other.
Despite his education suffering as a result and even a teacher
suggesting he be transferred to a special education class, Rehan caught a
break and was tutored to help his performance in school. He ended up
finishing the year with an Honor Roll. He continued improving his
academic stance, and even picking up boxing with a dream to turn it into
a job.
Rehan comes from a broken family that has been struggling financially for years
Image credits: Rehan Staton
To help his dad and brother make ends meet, he got a job working as a garbage collector
Image credits: Rehan Staton
Unfortunately, in the 12th grade, Rehan suffered multiple shoulder
injuries, effectively destroying all of his chances of going pro after
graduation. After applying to multiple colleges and, unfortunately,
receiving rejections from all of them, Rehan decided to take on garbage
collecting. And that’s when his life started turning the tide.
In context, most of Rehan’s colleagues were formerly incarcerated. It’s a
job that is often done by those who have no other choice in life, so
many were surprised to see a bright young man working in garbage
collection. Soon, Rehan’s colleagues started urging him to go to school
or do something that could allow him to live out his full potential.
His colleagues ended up turning to the son of the company’s owner, Brent
Bates, who subsequently introduced Rehan to a professor he knew at
Bowie State University. The professor was so impressed with Rehan that
he appealed to the university’s admissions council and Rehan was soon
admitted.
He had very little support, save for his immediate family and friends,
and his pro boxer career was cut short after a serious shoulder injury
and rejection by many schools
Image credits: Rehan Staton
Seeing a bright and promising young man, his colleagues at the trash
collection job pushed him to pursue further education in Bowie State
University
Image credits: Rehan Staton
Rehan explained that all of the people in his life whom he was supposed
to look up to were always putting him down and making him feel bad about
himself. However, when he went down to the “bottom” of the social
hierarchy where all of the formerly incarcerated sanitation workers are,
this was when he was actually uplifted.
With immense support from his brother, father, and friends, two years of
successful studies at Bowie State flew by and Rehan transferred to the
University of Maryland where he graduated in 2018. After this, he landed
a political consulting job at Robert Bobb Group and continued to study
for his LSAT.
Rehan again sent out a number of applications to nine colleges and
universities, three of which were Ivy League, five were from the top 20
in the country, and one was a safety school. When decisions started
coming in, his friends talked him into doing a decisions reactions video
which he was completely against at first, but eventually gave in.
Rehan’s supportive colleagues helped him get admitted into Bowie State
Uni with a transfer to Maryland University from which he graduated in
2018
Image credits: The Education Trust
But he didn’t stop here as he landed a political consultancy job and continued his studies for the LSATs
Image credits: Rehan Staton
By the time his answer from Harvard came in, Rehan was more or less
comfortable with being filmed. He was nervous to find out whether he got
in or not, as seen in the video provided in this article. Much to his
surprise, he got in—Rehan got accepted into Harvard. And this was just
one of several schools that finally accepted him.
News of this story went viral on the internet. The video of his reaction
of getting into Harvard also began making rounds online. Many
congratulated him saying that Rehan is proof that hard and perseverance
does pay off and that they believe he’ll go on to do many great things
in life.
After that, Rehan wrote an inspiring open letter to his brother Reggie,
who was one of the few people providing immense support—so much that he
dropped out of college to return to work and to ensure steady family
income.
Just a few weeks ago, he got a letter from Harvard about his acceptance, which you can watch below (5:18)
Image credits: Rehan Staton
Now, there is also a GoFundMe campaign titled From Hauling Trash to
Harvard Law that aims to gather some financial support for Rehan’s
studies at Harvard. At the moment of this article, it has raised over
$70,000 (out of $75,000) from over 1,100 donors in just 7 days. Carmie
McCook, an executive communications coach based in Washington, DC, is
coaching Rehan on how to become a better speaker and to also prepare him
for his next big step in life.
Consider supporting him on his GoFundMe, and why not leave a comment
below telling us what you thought about Rehan and his story of
perseverance and hard work.
Many people online came out to congratulate Rehan, expressing their support for the hard working student
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4584201&forum_id=2#40601535) |
No comments:
Post a Comment