Formerly homeless teen graduates as valedictorian of his class

Martin Folsom's perseverance paid off.

Folsom graduated as the top student in his class at A. Philip Randolph Career Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. He overcame several obstacles to become valedictorian, including dealing with homelessness while in the ninth and eleventh grades. "I never thought to myself, 'I can't do this anymore' or 'I'm done with this,'" he told News4JAX. "It's always been, well, it's happened again, and I've just got to keep myself up and keep moving forward."

Folsom has had the support of his mother Melva, who said she "constantly kept pushing him to do better." When he learned that he was valedictorian, "it kind of gave me a jolt in my chest a little bit, so it was a good feeling," Folsom told KABC. "It means a lot and it gives me a sense of all I've done and all I have accomplished was worth it." In the fall, he will head to Valdosta State University in Georgia, with the goal of working for the FBI after graduation. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.