Girl, 18, who grew up homeless and didn't know how to wash wins scholarship to Harvard

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Homeless, abandoned by her parents and once declared a high school dropout, a hardworking 18-year-old has turned her life around earning her acceptance into Harvard University with scholarship this fall.

High school graduate Dawn Loggins says her life in Lawndale, North Carolina first started out in decay, among bullying and a broken home surrounded by drug use and squalour before eventual abandonment by her parents.

'I looked around at my family and I saw the neglect, the drug abuse, the bad choices and I saw my family living from pay check to pay check,' she recounted to WBTV.

Made it: At 18-years-old, Dawn Loggins says she has finally made it after accepted into Harvard University despite raised in a home of drug use and later abandoned by family

'And I just made a decision that I was not going to end up like my parents. I wasn't going to end up having to decide should I buy food this month or should I pay my rent.'

Change from this life didn't come instantly or easily for the then-middle school student who says her second home with her grandmother was still swept by bad habits.

'There was trash all over the house,' she said. 'She never really explained to me like that it was important to shower, it was important to take care of yourself. So I would go months at a time without showering. I would wear the same dress to school for months at a time.'

This brought teasing by other students who called her ugly - classmates would tell boys that Dawn Loggins had a crush on them, so they would respond appalled.


Striving: To reach her dream, the then-high schooler worked as her school's custodian and took classes online to catch up after deemed a drop out after missing two-months of school


 When she began to keep quiet among them, she was called stupid.
'It actually got so bad, at a point in middle school, I would go home every day and just cry,' she said.

It was a high school guidance counsellor, however, who one day saw the girl beneath the dirty clothes.
'Do you want it? Will you wear it?' asked Burns High School guidance counsellor Robyn Putnam while taking her shopping one day, according to the Shelby Star.

'Yes, I'll wear it,' Ms Loggins replied.
'Then put it in the cart,' Mrs Putnam replied.

Others in her community pitched in as well with her school offering her a job as a high school custodian. A local dentist gave her toothpaste and a toothbrush.



Accepted: Despite numerous school transfers, she maintained straight-As in honours and AP classes while setting her sights on five universities, all of which she was accepted intoStriving to get back on track, despite deemed a high school drop out after missing two-months of school, Ms Loggins took online classes to catch up while maintaining a straight-A academic record, despite several school transfers.

'There would be times we went without power or water for months at a time,' she told WBTV of her conditions at home. 'I remember doing my homework by candlelight ‘cause I am that determined to succeed.'

Aiming to one day major in Biology, her work in honour and Advanced Placement courses all came to a glorifying reward last March when she opened up acceptance letters from not just four universities she had applied to, but her dream school: Harvard.

'Dear Ms Loggins,' the letter read, according to the Gaston Gazette. 'I am delighted to report that the Admissions Committee has asked me to inform you that you will be admitted to the Harvard College class of 2016... We send such an early positive indication only to outstanding applicants...'

Earned: Accepted into the prestigious university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, her tuition as well as room and board will be paid for by awarded scholarship

'I was proud of myself,' she said. 'Because not only was I able to get into Harvard, but I was able to distinguish myself from the other 36,000 other applicants.'

'It was good to see her smile,' Ms Loggin's US history teacher Larry Gardner, who wrote one of her recommendations to Harvard told the Gazette. 'There were times you couldn’t get a smile out of her.'

Faculty and staff at her high school have since pitched in to fly her to Cambridge, Massachusetts to tour her soon-to-be new home.

Her custodial supervisor at her high school, Junie Barrett, accompanied her.
'This is where I see myself,' she said after her return where she made friends and described everyone she met, including on the subway system, as 'friendly.'

Her father is currently being held in the Lincoln County Detention Center on a drug charge, according to the Gazette, and couldn't be reached by his daughter, but her grandmother she said screamed through the phone upon hearing the news.

Her older brother, living in another town, reminded her that she never should have had a doubt about herself.

Her mother, who's currently living with Ms Loggins' grandmother, responded to the news by telling her she was proud, a kindness that appears hard to swallow for her daughter.

Fulfilled: Flown to tour the university for the first time this spring with the aid of her high school's faculty and staff, the rising biology major said she has finally found her place

'She didn't contribute or anything,' she told the Gazette grudgingly. 'But, I guess, at least she said something.'

As far as school costs, the university has offered to pay for tuition as well as room and board, but she will have to find other ways to pay for books and living expenses she said.

After meeting with financial aid they plan to help her find at job on campus as well.

'If there is anybody at all who has a dream,' Ms Loggins told WBTV, 'then they can definitely make it happen. There are no excuses. It depends on you and no one else.'

With her Harvard enrollment and work toward a degree in biology, Ms Loggins said she hopes to study animal habitats.

'I want to help with new discoveries, she told WBTV, 'and I want to help make the world a better place.'

Culled from The Daily Mail UK.

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Simply Cheska...