A 24-year-old former trash collector has overcome incredible adversity to achieve his lofty academic goals, and is now set to start classes at Harvard Law School this fall, CNN reported.
At just 18 years old, Rehan Staton of Bowie, Maryland, was struggling with a fractured home life, illness, and a sports injury, all of which threatened to prevent him from achieving his dreams. But with hard work and plenty of determination, he’s on his way to making those dreams a reality.
Rehan and his brother, Reggie, were raised by their father after their mom left the family when Rehan was just eight years old.
Once enjoying a “solidly middle class upbringing,” Rehan quickly began to experience significant financial hardships as his father struggled to keep him and his brother clothed, fed, and with a roof over their heads.
“I wasn’t eating meals every day and my dad was working all the time,” he told CNN . “Sometimes there’d be no electricity at home.”
As his home life became more and more fractured, Rehan’s grades began slipping as well.
Although he found he could excel in athletics and actively pursued boxing and martial arts training, his academics were still sorely neglected. That is, until a teacher suggested he be placed in remedial classes, at which point Rehan’s father took action.
He set up his son with a tutor — an aerospace engineer he had met at a community center who offered to help Rehan for the remainder of the school year for free. By the end of the year, he was on the honor roll, and the teacher who suggested remedial classes personally wrote Rehan’s father an apology letter.
By the time he was a senior in high school, Rehan had turned his academics around and was passionately pursuing a future as a pro martial artist.
However, a devastating double shoulder injury threw a wrench in his plans. Before graduating, Rehan applied to a number of colleges but was rejected from every single one.
“That ended up just not working in my favor,” he recalled. “So, I ended up going to work as a garbage man.”
It was while he was working as a trash collector that his coworkers began to recognize the potential this bright young man had.
Some decided to personally speak with Brent Bates, the son of the garbage trucking company owners, to discuss Rehan’s promise. Recognizing this himself, Bates introduced Rehan to a professor at Bowie State University.
That professor was ultimately so impressed by the boy that he appealed to the admissions board on Rehan’s behalf. That same year, Rehan began his undergraduate studies and earned a 4.0 GPA.
By the end of his second year, Rehan set his sights on becoming a lawyer, and transferred to University of Maryland, where he graduated in 2018.
While there, he worked in political consulting with the Robert Bobb Group law firm, all the while continuing to collect trash to fund his education. Sometimes he showed up to school without being able to take a shower first.
“I would have to sit on the side of class and try not to bother anybody with my scent that day,” he recalled to NBC Washington .
After graduation, Rehan applied to law schools all over the country, and managed to film the moment he found out he had been accepted to Harvard Law.
In addition to Harvard, Rehan was also accepted to law schools at Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, and Pepperdine, all of which he kept track of using stickers on his living room wall.
In a recent tweet, Rehan reflected on his journey leading up to this incredible moment.
In that same tweet , he shared two photos of himself and his older brother, 27-year-old Reggie, who he revealed had decided to drop out of school and join the workforce so that Rehan could pursue his own education.
“When I look back at my experiences, I like to think that I made the best of the worst situation,” he told CNN . “Each tragedy I faced forced me out of my comfort zone, but I was fortunate enough to have a support system to help me thrive in those predicaments.”
A GoFundMe campaign has since been established to help cover Rehan’s education costs as he pursues his law degree.
Organized by his professional coach, Carmie McCook, who he lovingly refers to as “Ma,” the campaign hopes to help the student out with such costs as tuition ($65,875), as well as room and board ($26,472).
Although he has a grant and has taken out a student loan, he still needs around $37,000 to cover just his first year at Harvard.
As of writing, the campaign has raised over $34,000. You can donate to Rehan’s education fund here .
h/t: CNN
