A rough road to Harvard
For most of her 18 years, Khadijah Williams floated among California motels and shelters with her indigent mother. She sometimes lived out of garbage bags and was taunted by drug dealers, “You live on skid row!’’ But in third grade, Khadijah placed in the 99th percentile on a state exam, and though she attended 12 schools in as many years, she finished high school with a near-A average. This spring she was accepted to more than 20 colleges and will attend Harvard. “I never wanted people to say, ‘You got the easy way out because you were homeless,’” Williams said. “I never saw it as an excuse.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
The World War Two experiments that made D-Day possibleUnder The Radar Scientists performed gruelling tests on themselves paving the way for the iconic invasion
-
Is the Supreme Court about to criminalize homelessness?Talking Points The court will decide if bans on outdoor camping are 'cruel and unusual'
-
Fall into the groove at these delightful record storesThe Week Recommends Each one strikes its own chord
