Homeless teen graduates as high school valedictorian, will enter Spelman as college junior in fall

CLUTCH - Chelesa Fearce is a shining example of a student that didn’t let obstacles get in her way when it came to her education...

theGrio featured stories

From Clutch Magazine:

Chelesa Fearce is a shining example of a student that didn’t let obstacles get in her way when it came to her education. You  see, during most of Chelesa’s high school career she was homeless and living in her mother’s car.  Chelesa, a senior at Charles Drew High School in Clayton County, Georgia, knew that her hard work would pay off, despite the obstacles presented to her.

“I just told myself to keep working, because the future will not be like this anymore,” Fearce said. “You’re worried about your home life and then worried at school. Worry about being a little hungry sometimes, go hungry sometimes. You just have to deal with is. You eat what you can, when you can.”

Although her family occasionally lived in an apartment, because of her mother’s lay-offs, they took refuge in shelters.

“Ended up back in another shelter because I got laid off from my job maybe about four or five times,” Fearce’s mother, Reenita Shephard said.

“I just did what I had to do,” Fearce said.

None of that stopped Chelesa from achieving a 4.466 GPA and a 1900 SAT score.

Read the rest of this story on Clutch Magazine.

Mentioned in this article:

More About: